Support building for landmark move to overturn El Salvador's anti-abortion law

Parliamentary bill proposing to loosen draconian restrictions
on abortion finds favour after religious groups, doctors and
others voice public support

Nina Lakhani in Mexico City
Thursday 23 March 2017 07.00 GMT

El Salvador’s controversial law banning abortion in all circumstances, which has provoked ruthless miscarriages of justice, could be overturned in what has been described as a historic move.

Momentum is building around a parliamentary bill proposing to allow abortion in cases of rape or human trafficking; when the foetus in unviable; or to protect the pregnant woman’s health or life.

Prominent church groups, doctors, lawyers and ethicists have generated a groundswell of public support after speaking out in favour of loosening restrictions in a series of public hearings and debates.

It is the first time the deeply religious Central American country has openly debated abortion, forcing even conservative media organisations to cover the issue in editorials and primetime news programmes.

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In 1997, legislators from across the political spectrum voted to strip women of their reproductive rights without any public debate or medical consultation about the consequences, after a shadowy campaign by a small group of powerful anti-choice groups linked to the Catholic church.

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