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Cristina's story is far too common in El Salvador, where for more than 16 years abortion has been illegal under any circumstance. Today, pregnant women in El Salvador live under a cloud of suspicion and fear, placing their health, lives, and freedom at risk as soon as they enter a hospital seeking critical medical services. Countless women have been sentenced to years—even decades—in deplorable prisons because of the country's abortion ban.When we heard Cristina's story and those of Las 17—the more than a dozen women in El Salvador who suffered obstetric emergencies and later wrongly imprisoned for homicide—we had to take action. As strong advocates for women's rights, we felt compelled to speak out. As members of Congress responsible for appropriating American foreign assistance to El Salvador, we want our investments to reflect our values. Our constituents here in the US needed to know about these egregious human rights violations. With the support of 53 of our colleagues in Congress, we wrote to US Secretary of State John Kerry about calling on President Salvador Sanchez Cerén to review the cases of Las 17, with an eye toward freeing them.Pregnant women in El Salvador like Cristina who are wrongfully accused of having an abortion end up in prison with a target on their backs and experience severe discrimination, as well as physical and verbal abuse. Cristina slept in a cell with 84 other inmates and endured cruel "cavity searches" that amounted to sexual assault, among other atrocities during her time in prison.On VICE News: Four Israeli Cities Ban Arab Workers from Schools in Security Move Decried as Racist
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