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Team—
Twelve Salvadoran women were arrested and are still sitting in jail for having obstetric emergencies. This is a blatant human rights violation.
These women suffered the physical and emotional pain of an obstetric emergency. But instead of receiving the care and support they needed, they were jailed—one along with her three-year old son. Can you imagine?
In July 2020, El Salvador's Supreme Court concluded that the detention of these women should be reviewed in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Yet they are still being held in overcrowded prisons through this global health crisis, putting their lives at risk.
The Center for Reproductive Rights participated in an open hearing last week at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of these 12 women, and we will keep fighting until they are released.
We can right this wrong, will you make a gift right now to stand with us and these women? If you do, a group of Center donors will match every dollar you donate—three to one, up to $200,000—to support this vital work.
These women should never have been in prison to begin with. Making matters worse, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and aggravated severe structural deficiencies in the Salvadoran prison system, including overcrowding and lack of potable water and health services. Keeping these women behind bars in these conditions leaves them vulnerable to disease and places their health at risk.
Despite the July ruling requiring a review of their cases, there has been little movement. As pandemic rages on, El Salvador must immediately release these women arbitrarily detained for crimes they did not commit.
We will stop at nothing to secure their freedom.
Please make a gift today and it will go FOUR TIMES as far to help us keep fighting.
In solidarity,
Catalina Martínez Coral
Regional Director for Latin America & the Caribbean
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