#JusticiaparaBeatriz: Abortion Rights in El Salvador and Latin America

In El Salvador, abortion is criminalized since 1988. In March this year, the Inter-American Court of Human rights has started public hearings in the Beatriz case, a young woman who was denied abortion even though her life was at risk and her pregnancy non-viable. The Beatriz case is a historical event that has the potential to change the lives of millions of Latin American women: if the Court determines that the State of El Salvador has violated the human rights of Beatriz, including her rights to life, a human treatment, judicial protection and health, the judgment could have ripple effects throughout the continent and force Latin American governments to end the criminalization of abortion. 

This event will feature Morena Herrera, recipient of the Prix Simone Veil of the French Republic in 2023 for her fight for abortion rights and one of the main activists defending Beatriz before the Court, who will join via zoom from El Salvador. The discussion will highlight the lack of access to reproductive rights of women in El Salvador and Latin America, where the criminalization of abortion is one of the most extreme in the world, and how the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has responded to various controversies.

The event will take place in English and Spanish, with simultaneous translation to English.

The event will be hybrid: the audience is welcome to attend either in-person on campus or online via zoom. Registration is compulsory in both cases.

Guest speakers:

• Morena Herrera (via zoom), El Salvador feminist and social activist
• Luis Rivera-Vélez (via zoom), Lecturer, Sciences Po; Post-doctoral researcher, Université de Lausanne
• Virginia Roque Aguilar, Environmental Activist; Laureate of the Marianne 2023 Initiative

Moderator:

• Delphine O, French Ambassador for Gender Equality