A 21 year old Salvadoran woman named Evelyn, who had been sentenced to 30 years in prison, was acquitted of all charges after a retrial, according to her defense team. They said the judge ruled there was not enough evidence to convict her.
According to CNN, Evelyn was found on her bathroom floor covered in blood in April 2016 and was taken to an emergency room by her mother and a neighbor. Doctors found signs she had given birth but no baby, and reported her to police. Authorities said they found a newborn dead in a septic tank at her home about five hours later.
Prosecutors argued at her 2017 trial that she induced an abortion and left the baby for dead, and she was sentenced to 30 years. She served 33 months before her legal team won an appeal at the Supreme Court and she was released in February, pending a retrial.
Evelyn and her defense team have said the pregnancy was the result of a rape and that she did not know she was pregnant. She told reporters last month that if she had known, she would have welcomed the baby with pride and joy.
The case drew international attention to El Salvador’s abortion law, which bans the procedure in all circumstances, including rape, incest and risks to the mother’s health.
Amnesty International called the acquittal a victory for human rights and urged the government to repeal the law. Paula Avila Guillen of the Women’s Equality Center told CNN that stillbirths are obstetric emergencies and not crimes, and said the law criminalizes women living in poverty.
