An El Salvadorian woman with lupus and kidney failure has been denied termination of a pregnancy that will surely not come to full fruition.
The country's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the 22-year-old woman identified as Beatriz, who is currently at her 26 week of pregnancy, cannot have an abortion despite the fact that her fetus has an extremely low chance of surviving.
According to the Guardian, El Salvador's laws prohibit pregnancy terminations of any kind, even when a woman's well-being is threatened. The Supreme Court has ruled that any doctor who endeavors to perform an abortion on the woman faces charges and jail time.
The 4-to-1 ruling came after the woman's lawyer's pleaded for an appeal, insisting that the pregnancy was causing her life to hang in the balance.
The court, however, rebutted by saying that the government-owned Institute of Legal Medicine performed extensive physical and psychological examinations on the woman, and found that her lupus and kidney failure would not harm her health. They deemed her well enough to continue her pregnancy.
The Guardian reported that Beatriz, already a mother of one child, is in feeble health. Lupus, a disorder that attacks the immune system, causes her constant sickness, and other medical experts have said that her kidney failure, coupled with the pregnancy, could lead to dire endings.
An entire medical committee at a San Salvador maternity hospital where Beatriz has received treatment claimed that the baby certainly would not make it through birth, and recommended she get an abortion. They claimed her health "will certain get worse as the pregnancy advances."
Abortion opposition group Yes to Life Foundation recommended Beatriz wait to see if she could induce labor early.
Attorney general for human rights in El Salvador Oscar Luna said, "in reality, what should prevail above all are human rights-in this case, the right to life."
No immediate ruling has been released in this case as of yet.
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