El Salvador woman’s ordeal: Rape victim jailed for 20 years!

San Salvador, Nov 14: She was raped and then she was sent to 20 years in prison! Imelda Cortez from El Salvadaor had this terrible experience and the case has stirred up the long-persisting debate over the central American country's abortion law.

According to Huffington Post, Imelda, who became pregnant at 18 to her stepfather (who was jailed), was handed the long imprisonment for allegedly trying to abort her unborn child. The woman though had denied of having tried to abort the baby which is a crime in El Salvador. It was said the judges will consider medical evidence to determine if the woman tried an abortion though her lawyer Alejandro Romero said she should be set free given her two-year-old child is in a good health now. Twenty five women, including Imelda, are currently behind bars on charges of abortion, which the country's law recognises as murder.

According to the Huffington Post, some of the imprisoned women claim to have seen miscarriages, stillbirths and other pregnancy complications that were beyond their control and were wrongly convicted.

The United Nations asked the government of El Salvador earlier this year to revise its abortion law and Imelda's case has revived the debate all over again.