After six years in prison

Welcome to the theocracy of the country called The Savior, where women are harshly punished for having miscarriages and stillbirths.

A woman sentenced to 30 years in jail after a stillbirth that was judged to be her fault has been released from jail in El Salvador.

First rule of theocratic misogyny: it’s always a woman’s fault. “It” means anything and everything.

Cindy Erazo, 29, from San Salvador, was granted conditional freedom on Wednesday after six years in jail.

Morena Herrera, head of the Citizen’s Group for the Decriminalisation of Abortion, said that Erazo, who has a son aged 10, had an obstetric emergency when she was eight months pregnant. She was accused of attempting to end the pregnancy and charged with aggravated homicide. A year after her conviction, her sentenced was reduced to 10 years.

Dozens of women have been convicted for manslaughter, homicide and aggravated homicide after having miscarriages, stillbirths and other obstetric emergencies since El Salvador introduced a total ban on abortion in 1998.

On the one hand, here, please gestate this baby for us. On the other hand, your miscarriage is your fault and you get 30 years in prison for it. It’s a sweet gig, being a woman.

Paula Avila-Guillén, executive director of the Women’s Equality Center, said: “Cindy’s case casts an international spotlight on the horrific reality of El Salvador’s extreme abortion ban, and the insidious culture of persecuting innocent women that it perpetuates.

It’s as if women are balky machines as opposed to humans.

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