National Geographic: Where Women with Zika Fear Prison
“…El Salvador is one of six countries with the most extreme abortion laws in the world. Abortion is criminalized in all circumstances, regardless of rape, incest, the viability of the fetus, or whether the pregnancy poses a risk to the mother’s life. This law went into effect in 1998, changing from a partial to an absolute ban, due in large part to lobbying by the country’s archbishop. The next year Congress reinforced the law by adding a clause to the constitution defining life as beginning at conception. … In July, a conservative party submitted a proposal to the legislature that would raise the minimum sentence for abortion to 30 years…” (Strochlic, 10/19).