Case Beatriz vs El Salvador: The threat of abortion in Latin America

On March 22 and 23, 2023, the hearings for the case of Beatriz et al. versus El Salvador were held at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IDH Court) based in San José, Costa Rica. Abortion groups, in an attempt to impose abortion in Latin America, appealed the Court using a strategy to manipulate the circumstances that occurred in the life of a Salvadoran woman with limited resources named Beatriz, who was scared and manipulated to promote abortion. We will make a brief summary with the considerations of this case:

Beatriz and motherhood

Beatriz is the mother of two children: a boy and by that time an unborn girl named Leilani. Beatriz wanted to be a mother again so much that, after the birth of her first child, she was offered sterilization. But she refused because she wanted to have more children. And so it happened. Beatriz became pregnant of her second daughter.

Beatriz, her health conditions and her second pregnancy

There are two important circumstances in this case: Beatriz’s illness and her daughter’s. Beatriz suffered from a disease called Lupus, which was controlled by the doctors for her second pregnancy. On the other hand, her baby was diagnosed with anencephaly. It must be noted that neither the Lupus suffered by Beatriz nor the anencephaly of her daughter represented a threat to Beatriz's life, so the pregnancy continued with the relevant medical care.

Beatriz and the pressure of pro-abortion groups

Once the pro-abortion groups found out about her situation and the conditions of her pregnancy, they took advantage of the circumstances to manipulate and induce Beatriz to fear. They assured her that if an abortion was not performed, she would die, further arguing that, in any case, the baby was not going to survive due to her illness. This is how Beatriz made a request to the Supreme Court of Justice of El Salvador in 2013, who ruled that Beatriz's life was not in danger and that during the pregnancy she was being properly cared for by doctors.

Birth and death of Leilani

Mother and daughter received adequate care. At 26 weeks of pregnancy Beatriz underwent a cesarean section and Leilani was born, in order to prevent the mother from reaching a point where her life was at risk. Beatriz got to see her daughter, had her in her arms for a moment and Leilani, due to her illness, died of natural causes 5 hours after her birth. Although she had a short life, Leilani was allowed to be born. Her dignity as a person was respected.
Leilani was buried and Beatriz visited her grave. Beatriz recovered from the cesarean section thanks to medical care.

Manipulation of Beatriz's death to impose abortion

In 2017 Beatriz died due to injuries caused by a motorcycle accident. It was not related to her second pregnancy or Leilani's anencephaly. Despite this, pro-abortion groups have used Beatriz's death to try to impose abortion in El Salvador and Latin America through international bodies such as the International Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Inter-American Court. They argue, among other factors, that Beatriz was tortured to give birth to her daughter, instead of allowing her to have an abortion, that is to say murder her daughter, as she had requested in 2013.

Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica

On the night of March 21th, the eve of the hearings, in front of the IACHR facilities, pro-life groups from Costa Rica held a vigil in defense of the two lives and pro-abortion groups demonstrated to pressure for access to “free, safe and free” abortion. During those two days of hearings, the witnesses, testimonies, arguments, and the facts of the parties representing Beatriz and the State of El Salvador were presented. Inside the room there was a great majority of pro-abortion groups. Pro-life groups had to take steps to gain access to the hearings.

In these two days, the radical pro-abortion position of the IACHR and the partiality of members of the Court became clear, which evidently results in prejudice to the impartiality to resolve the case. This radicalism was demonstrated with the participation of the IACHR expert, supposedly an expert on the subject, who accepted that the unborn is not a human being, is not a person and therefore is not a subject of rights, therefore that it is the mother who decides whether to give them or not. She also spoke about the need to eliminate conscientious objection.

On the other hand, the expert witness from El Salvador made it clear that the right to life does not depend on graduality, nor is humanity gradual. The lawyers of the State of El Salvador made a masterly closing in defense of the life of the unborn, the need to help women and not decriminalize abortion.

Whats Next?

The parties have until April 24 to present their last written arguments and then the Court will take its time to review it and issue its decision. Due to previous similar cases, it could take months and it is expected that the ruling will be given near the end of the year.

As for what the ruling could be, the spectrum is very broad: from recognizing that the State of El Salvador did the right thing by ensuring and protecting both lives (mother and daughter) equal in dignity to declaring that abortion must be ensured by the State freely and without restrictions, which would imply that the same measure should be adopted by the other member states of the convention in America.

Although the outlook is sometimes not so favorable for life, we know that this fight is not even. In fact it is infinitely disproportionate. It is a spiritual battle not between equal parties but between the creature (the devil) against The Creator. Deep down we know it, but sometimes we are not so clear. Our hope must always be placed in God because He has already defeated death. Let's keep working as if the result depended on us and trusting as if it depended on God.