INFORMATION HIGHLIGHTED TO BE CHANGED AS APPROPRIATE
Your MEP's name and address
DATE
Dear Mr/Ms/Mrs Name,
We are writing to request that you take urgent action to protect women's rights in El Salvador in your role as a member of the European Development Committee/ Euro-Latin America Parliamentary Assembly/OTHER
The World Health Organisation has recently declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, caused by the spreading outbreaks of the Zika virus, occurring in many countries. The causes of the wide-spread infection are still unclear - the most defended theory noting it to be a mosquito-borne transmission - but the effects of the virus are clear, and the focus of the health concerns is pregnant women. In the face of the current situation, we believe the EU should act to guarantee that the rights of women are respected, in particular the access to health and reproductive services, and guarantee women's right to decide over their own pregnancies.
El Salvador is one of the countries in Latin America where abortion is banned under all circumstances, including when pregnancy is the result of rape, is non-viable, or when it is necessary in order to save a woman's life. Medical professionals face penalties for any involvement and are obliged to report suspected abortions. At the same time, access to reproductive health services and to contraception is limited in many areas.
Under the heavy criminalisation of abortion, many women are condemned to serve jail sentences for aggravated homicide, some for up to 40 years in prison. Many women who have suffered obstetric complications, miscarriage or stillbirth have also been victims of a judiciary that presumes women guilty of their own misfortune, when unable to prove they did not terminate their own pregnancies. Women from disadvantaged backgrounds suffer disproportionately from this draconian law.
Reports by the Salvadoran Citizen Group for the Decriminalisation of Therapeutic and Ethic Abortion - ACDATEE - show that over 129 women were imprisoned for abortion between 2000 and 2011, and more than 26 have been prosecuted for aggravated homicide following a miscarriage, stillbirth or obstetric complications. For the past two years, the Central America Women's Network (CAWN) has campaigned in partnership with ACDATEE for the Salvadoran authorities to review cases in which women have been jailed for actions they have not committed.
Due to the outbreak of the Zika Virus, the Salvadoran government has called on women to avoid getting pregnant for the next two years. But this recommendation is unrealistic: access to contraceptives is limited, especially for young and poor women, meaning that most pregnancies are unplanned. The recommendation also ignores the high levels of sexual violence in the region, which in many cases result in pregnancies. As a result of the total ban on abortion, women who do not wish to be pregnant recur to unsafe abortions, which endanger their health and their lives. In the current situation, we fear that the already high maternal mortality rate in El Salvador could potentially skyrocket.
We urge you to push the government of El Salvador to change its draconian abortion law, to guarantee women access to reproductive health services and to take all the necessary measures to free and pardon those women who are imprisoned under the current legislation.
We must act to ensure women's rights to health and life are respected, for there can be no justice and equality when women are denied their most fundamental human rights.
We trust you will pass on our concerns and demands to the relevant authorities in El Salvador and we welcome any responses from them on the matters raised in this letter.
Yours sincerely,
YOUR NAME
Role/Collective/Organisation (if applicable)
A) If sending as email: Below you can find links to an article and briefing papers relevant to this issue.
Briefing paper: Women's Reproductive Rights https://issuu.com/cawn/docs/reproductive_rights_sept15__1_
Latin America, Women’s Rights and Zika; government response add to women’s burden
http://www.cawn.org/?p=1745
B) If sending as physical copy: You can find further information on Women Reproductive Rights in El Salvador and the effects of the Zika virus on women's lives on the Central America Women's Network website, www.cawn.org.