Tucson, United States /
Along with migration and the economy, access to abortion has become one of the main concerns of voters in the United States leading many women to dangerous scenarios not being able to terminate their pregnancies even in risky situations.
Arrests for miscarriages
At 17 years old, Cristina Quintanilla was sentenced to 30 years in prison in El Salvador for having had a miscarriageand now warns United States voters in states like Arizona, Snowfall and Florida the impact of these bans as part of a movement led by a coalition of Latin American women known as the green wave.
“It was terrible, from the hospital they lifted me off the stretcher and They took me to jail, still bleeding and with difficulties walking,” Quintanilla tells EFE during a visit to Tucson, Arizona.
It was 2004 and the Salvadoran woman had six months pregnant of her second child when she began to feel severe pain in her belly. “I felt like I was short of breath, like I was suffocating, and suddenly I lost consciousness.”
Her mother found her bloody, and the fetus had died. They called the emergency And, since no one came, a neighbor took her to a community hospital where the doctors hardly wanted to treat her.
“I remember everything like in a dream, I was suffering for the loss of my baby, They separated me from my sonfrom my family and they still sent me to jail,” he recalls.
In El Salvador abortion is prohibited and punished with up to 50 years of prison. A nurse accused her of intentionally causing the abortion because she was “so poor” she could not support a second child.
Quintanilla is a group of Latin American women who are touring various cities in USA telling their stories as a warning of the consequences of establishing laws that restrict or prohibit abortion.
Republican states toughened their laws to terminate pregnancy
At least 18 states have passed state laws restricting abortion after the United States Supreme Court will eliminate in 2022 the federal protections granted under Roe v. Wade to reproductive rights.
“Our goal is to talk to Latino voters in states like Arizona, Nevada and Florida about the abortion and the connection of this topic with other Latin American countries.
“The story of these women is a warning of the consequences of approving laws restricting abortion“he said to EFE María Teresa Liberman Parraga, director of strategy and communication at Women Equality Center.
Quintanilla’s case captured national attention, public opinion accused her of being “a murderous mother“.
The woman passed four years in prison until a young lawyer managed to get the court to throw out his sentence because not even the doctors could determine if the abortion was intentional nor the cause of death of the fetus.
Her story is just one of thousands of women who are singled out and penalized in El Salvador for suffering or wanting an abortion.
Double victimization of victims of sexual abuse
As a teenager Manuela, originally from Colombia who asked to be identified only by her first name, became pregnant after being raped by soldiers during the armed conflict in his country and when abortion was prohibited in that country.
Pointed out by her family, the young woman who had to undergo a clandestine abortionsomething that it almost cost him his life.
“It was terrible, I felt my insides being torn, I feel like I was violated twice,” she tells EFE.
She had to undergo the abortion alone, without anyone to support her, with fear and shame.
These women make up the green wavea coalition of women, activists and diverse organizations that have fought to change the laws that restrict abortion in Latin American countries.
“We have achieved important changes in countries like Argentina and MexicoHowever, there is still a lot to do,” said Liberman Parraga.
The activist Morena Herrara from El Salvador has witnessed the high cost that women have paid for having an abortion.
Among them, women who have died at home, in clandestine clinics after undergoing an abortion because they cannot go to a hospital to have it safely.
“It’s terrible, women should be the only ones to have the right to decide about their bodies and not the politiciansneither the courts, nor the Government,” he says.
The tour that bears the name of ““Abortion is health” It also travels with a traditional altar of the dead, dedicated to women who have died for undergo an abortion or because the doctors denied it, putting the life of the fetus before their own.
In November the voters in Arizona They will decide on proposal 139, which seeks to reform the state Constitution and convert abortion into a woman’s right.
Extends the possibility of having a safe abortion up to 24 weeks of gestation eliminates penalties against nurses and doctors who perform abortions.
It also establishes exceptions in case of rape or if the mother’s health is in danger.
This is how women in Arizona organize themselves:
✍Join a Yes on Prop 139 Postcard Writing Party for some fun and good company while helping reach voters. Be the difference for Yes on Prop 139! pic.twitter.com/IcNtlIXNPR
— Yes on Prop. 139! Arizona for Abortion Access (@azforaccess) October 6, 2024
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