Woman convicted of abortion released from prison in El Salvador

In El Salvador, a woman was released from prison more than seven years after she was convicted of losing her child. This was reported by the BBC, according to UNN. 

Details 

Lilian, 28, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2015.

In 2015, she gave birth to a girl in a public hospital, but the child developed complications and died three days later.

As noted, El Salvador has some of the world's strictest anti-abortion laws. 

Prosecutors accused Lilian of failing to take care of the fetus during her pregnancy and she was charged with negligence and aggravated murder.

Lilian, who has a 10-year-old daughter, has always defended her innocence and said she never intended to terminate the pregnancy.

"On behalf of all my companions, I ask you to stop accusing and persecuting other innocent women like me," she said at a press conference. "It was a very difficult trauma, and I do not wish anyone to go through it.

Groups that supported Lilian during her ordeal said she was released in December, but this information has only just come to light.

According to them, the judge's decision to release Lilian was based on the fact that she was in a vulnerable position in the hospital when she lost her child.

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El Salvador introduced a complete ban on abortion in 1998. It does not provide for exceptions in cases of rape or when the pregnancy poses a threat to the mother's health.

Those convicted of abortion face two to eight years in prison. But in many cases, the charge is changed to aggravated murder, which carries a minimum sentence of 30 years.

Dozens of women are believed to have been falsely imprisoned in El Salvador on suspicion of having had an abortion.