Rape victim faces 20 years in jail charged with attempting to abort baby in El Salvador

November 13, 2018
The Australian state will allow the procedure after 22 weeks, under very strict circumstances.

A rape victim in El Salvador is facing 20 years in jail charged with attempted murder after she gave birth to her 70-year-old abuser's baby in a toilet.

Imelda Cortez, 20, from San Miguel, was rushed to hospital after her mother discovered her in severe pain and bleeding heavily.

The emergency room doctor suspected she had an abortion and called the police. The baby was found alive and well.

The woman's stepfather had abused her since she was 12-years-old and she had no idea she was pregnant.

In the end the baby survived but Cortez was charged with attempted murder, denied bail and sent to jail a week after she was in hospital, according to The Guardian .

Abortion is very illegal in El Salvador but Bertha Maria Deleon, one of Cortez’s defence lawyers said it was the most extreme, scandalous injustice against a woman she has ever seen.

“The state has repeatedly violated Imelda’s rights as a victim; she’s deeply affected but denied psychological attention," she says.

While Cortex was in hospital her 70-year-old stepfather came and threatened to kill her, her mother and her siblings if she spoke out about the abuse.

Another patient in the hospital overheard him threaten her and told another nurse, who called the police.

Prosecutors accused Cortez of inventing the abuse to justify her crime, until the DNA test confirmed the baby’s paternity. Her step father has not been charged.

Since being detained 18 months ago she has not been allowed to hold her baby daughter.

The criminal trial against Cortez opens today, with a ruling by the three judges expected within a week.

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