MEXICO CITY \u2014 Beatriz spends her days in a hospital room, anxiously watching her belly grow.<\/p>\n
Her doctors say she is inching along a high-risk pregnancy that could ultimately kill her, fraught with risks caused by lupus and other complications. The fetus itself has such a severe birth defect that it has almost no chance of surviving, they say, urging an end to the pregnancy to protect Beatriz\u2019s health before it gets worse. But in El Salvador, where she lives, abortion is illegal under any circumstances.<\/p>\n
Now she is waiting for the Salvadoran Supreme Court to rule on her case, which has quickly become a focal point in a broad battle over abortion in Latin America, a largely conservative region where the Roman Catholic Church holds considerable sway.<\/p>\n
Long home to some of the world\u2019s most stringent abortion laws, the region has begun experiencing a shift in recent years, with some nations loosening restrictions or even legalizing the procedure. Now Beatriz\u2019s case is testing the limits of El Salvador\u2019s law, one of the more ironclad bans the region still has, by challenging whether abortion should remain off limits even when the mother is at risk and the baby has little hope of survival.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to die,\u201d Beatriz, 22, said in a telephone interview, explaining her reason for seeking an abortion. \u201cI want to be with my boy, taking care of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Advocates have adopted her cause to intensify a regional push to change abortion laws, arguing that her rights under international law are being violated: the fetus is not viable, the danger of serious illness or death is increasing as her pregnancy progresses, and she already has an infant child to care for. A group of United Nations human rights experts called on El Salvador\u2019s government to grant \u201cexceptions to its general prohibition, especially in cases of therapeutic abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Salvadoran church, by contrast, has argued that the baby\u2019s malformation should not be met with a death sentence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case should not be used to legislate against human life,\u201d read a statement from the Episcopal Conference of El Salvador.<\/p>\n
Several Latin American nations have softened their stances against abortion in recent years. Uruguay\u2019s Senate approved a bill last year allowing women to have abortions during the first trimester for any reason, after an earlier move to legalize the procedure in Mexico City. Courts in Colombia, Brazil and Argentina have also loosened restrictions on some abortions, allowing them in certain cases like rape or when the fetus is expected to die. <\/p>\n
But a total ban on the procedure remains in El Salvador, Chile and Nicaragua. Doctors who perform abortions and mothers who request them can be sentenced to long prison terms. Under Salvadoran law, Beatriz, who asked that her last name be withheld to protect her identity, and her doctors could face up to eight years in prison if one is performed.<\/p>\n
A group of doctors at the National Maternity Hospital, where she is being treated, determined that Beatriz\u2019s risk of serious illness or death increased as the pregnancy continued, and that the fetus would die. They suggested terminating the pregnancy. \u201cWe agree in what proceeds,\u201d the doctors wrote in a report, \u201cbut we are all subject to the laws of this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a letter addressed to the Supreme Court last month, Health Minister Mar\u00eda Isabel Rodr\u00edguez described Beatriz\u2019s situation as \u201cgrave maternal illness with a high probability of deterioration or maternal death.\u201d Given the fatal prognosis of the fetus, \u201cit is necessary to undertake a medical-legal approach urgently,\u201d Ms. Rodr\u00edguez wrote.<\/p>\n
But the case has its medical detractors as well. Jos\u00e9 Miguel Fort\u00edn Maga\u00f1a, director of the Institute of Legal Medicine, which evaluates medical issues for the Supreme Court, acknowledged Beatriz\u2019s medical problems but said that her health was currently under control and that she was not in danger at the moment. <\/p>\n