An El Salvador court has ordered the release of a 31-year-old woman who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for aggravated manslaughter over the death of her unborn child in 2012, authorities announced on Monday.
Sarah Rochel was arrested in October 2012 after she went to a hospital with bleeding that she explained was caused when she fell while doing chores around the house. The then 22-year-old student was prosecuted for the murder of her unborn daughter and convicted.
In El Salvador, a very conservative Catholic country, abortion laws are among the strictest on the planet – with no exceptions for rape, incest, or even pregnancy that endangers the mother-to-be.
The penal code stipulates imprisonment for 2 to 8 years in abortion cases, but prosecutors and judges often even refer to unintentional expulsions as “premeditated homicide with aggravating circumstances”, a charge that carries a sentence of 30 to 50 years in prison.
More than eight years after Ms. Rochelle was convicted, a judge in Cohutepeke, in eastern Salvador, decided to release her early, accepting her defense request to be pardoned, according to court spokeswoman Ulises Marinero.
The young woman will remain in jail for at least another five days, during which time the prosecution has the opportunity to appeal.
