Dateline: Nov 8

This week on Dateline ‘From Miscarriage to Murder’ as Evan Williams hears from El Salvador to women who claim they have been wrongly incarcerated for complications suffered when giving birth.

“[Translated] I always used to think that in El Salvador only guilty people were imprisoned; but that’s not the case. Innocent people are imprisoned. These women are an example of that.” Lawyer, Dennis Muñoz tells Dateline.

El Salvador is simultaneously home to one of the world’s highest rates of teen pregnancy and most extreme anti-abortion laws.

This week, Dateline’s Evan Williams travels to El Salvador to investigate the countries strict anti-abortion laws and discovers shocking cases of women who claim they have been wrongly incarcerated for complications suffered when giving birth.

Women who suffer miscarriages or still-births are routinely suspected by doctors of having an abortion and reported to the police. They are then charged with ‘homicide’.

Evan meets Maria Josefina whose 18-year old daughter Evelyn is in prison charged with killing her baby. She says her baby died in a sudden premature birth at home at around 34 weeks. Five days after being rushed to hospital with excessive blood loss, she was charged with having an abortion and sent to Ilopango Women’s Prison where she is now awaiting her trail.

“I know she is innocent because what happened was not what she wanted,” says Maria Josefina. “It hurts me to see her in that place.”

Evan also meets 21-year-old Elizabeth Santos, a young woman who claims she lost her 34-week-old baby in a sudden premature birth at home.

“[translated] They’re accusing me of something I didn’t do,” the 21-year-old tells Dateline, “I want…this nightmare to be over. That’s all.”

Elizabeth’s lawyer, Dennis Muñoz – a man that has been labelled as El Salvador’s “abortion lawyer” says the prosecution has no evidence Evelyn or Elizabeth intentionally aborted their babies.

Dateline also speaks to one of El Salvador’s leading pro-life politicians and youngest members of Parliament, Mayte Escalante.

She believes that the courts have been doing their jobs and women are being prosecuted fairly.

Mayte tells Evan, “[translated] No one in El Salvador can be prosecuted without due process. I insist. The prosecution has to prove whether the abortion was induced…There are thousands of women who, due to health problems with ovaries or ectopic pregnancies, lose their babies… Those women aren’t prosecuted.”

During filming, Evan visits a rural clinic, where he speaks to a local doctor who explains complications at birth are “expected” due to the high rate of pregnancies in girls under 19.

He explains, “Their age alone is a risk factor for these girls.”

Evan asks the doctor that given the circumstances and uncertainty of some cases, does he believe that innocent women are going to jail. The doctor responds, “[translated] Yes, truly. I do think it’s very restrictive. But that’s the law, and we have to abide by it.

Tuesday 8 November at 9.30pm on SBS.