Manuela, a Salvadoran woman of low socioeconomic resources, died of cancer at the age of 33 while serving a 30-year prison sentence for the crime of aggravated homicide, after suffering an obstetric emergency and without ever having received adequate treatment for lymphatic cancer she was suffering from (Hodgkin’s lymphoma). The case is particularly relevant since Manuela’s conviction occurred in the context of full criminalization of voluntary termination of pregnancy.

Synergía, together with Vecinas Feministas por la justicia sexual y reproductiva en América Latina; Akahata – equipo de trabajo en sexualidades y géneros; Soulforce; Balance promoción para el desarrollo y juventud AC; RESURJ (Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice); Católicas por el derecho a decidir; AWID (Association for Women’s Rights in Development) and IWRAW Asia Pacific, submitted an Amicus Curiae to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to argue that Manuela was discriminated against by the application of gender and intersectional stereotypes.

Click here to read the Amicus (in Spanish)