Wed. Jun. 5: Let Beatriz Live! Down with El Salvador's Abortion Ban!

[Dabrowski]

Let Beatriz Live!
Down with El Salvador’s Abortion Ban!


Protest: Wednesday, June 5, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
NYC consulate of El Salvador
46 Park Avenue, between 36th and 37th Street in Manhattan
For more information, call 212-460-0983

In El Salvador, where abortion is illegal without exception, authorities have prevented a 22-year-old woman known as Beatriz from obtaining life-saving medical treatment to terminate her pregnancy. Because she suffers from lupus and kidney insufficiency, continuation of her pregnancy could likely cause her death. Moreover, the fetus suffers anencephaly (lacking a brain) and thus could not live outside the womb. Beatriz and her doctors petitioned for an injunction to permit an abortion, but on May 29, the country’s Supreme Court upheld the absolute ban, even against therapeutic abortion. Although the Salvadoran government now says that medical personnel could intervene to save Beatriz’s life, she is still in danger. It is necessary to keep the pressure on to save her from a cruel and unnecessary death at the hands the Salvadoran state.

Endorsed by (list in formation): CUNY Internationalist Clubs, Internationalist Group, League for the Revolutionary Party.


¡Beatriz debe vivir!
¡Abajo la prohibición del aborto en El Salvador!


Protesta: miércoles, 5 de junio, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Consulado de El Salvador en Nueva York
46 Park Avenue, entre las calles 36 y 37 en Manhattan
Para más información, llame al 212-460-0983

En El Salvador, donde el aborto es ilegal sin excepción alguna, las autoridades han impedido que una mujer de 22 años conocida como Beatriz reciba un tratamiento médico que le salvaría la vida mediante la interrupción de su embarazo. Debido a que padece de lupus e insuficiencia renal, continuar su gravidez muy posiblemente podría causarle la muerte. Además, el feto tiene anencefalia (carece de cerebro), de modo que no puede vivir fuera del vientre materno. Beatriz y sus médicos han pedido un amparo para un aborto, pero el 29 de mayo, la Suprema Corte del país sostuvo la prohibición absoluta, que desecha incluso el aborto terapéutico. Aunque el gobierno salvadoreño dice ahora que el personal médico puede intervenir para salvar la vida de Beatriz, ella sigue en peligro. Es necesario mantener la presión para salvarla de una muerte cruel e innecesaria a manos del estado salvadoreño.

Auspician (lista en proceso de formación): CUNY Internationalist Clubs, Grupo Internacionalista, League for the Revolutionary Party.

[Dabrowski]

(from www.internationalist.org (http://www.internationalist.org/elsalvadorabortionban1306.html))

Demonstration at Salvadoran Consulate in Beatriz Case

Protest in NYC Against Abortion Ban in El Salvador



http://www.internationalist.org/igprotestsalvadorabortionban130605.jpg
Protest in New York City, initiated by the Internationalist Group, against El Salvador’s abortion ban, highlighted by the case of Beatriz, June 5. (Internationalist photo)


Yesterday, June 5, a demonstration was held outside the consulate of El Salvador in New York City to denounce the total abortion ban in the Central American county. The call for the protest proclaimed “Let Beatriz Live!” referring to the cruel treatment of the 22-year-old woman by the Salvadoran state, which refused to grant permission for a therapeutic abortion even though, due to her delicate health (she suffers from lupus and kidney disease), her pregnancy was seriously life-threatening.

The New York protest was one in a number of actions internationally in Beatriz’s case, along with the many mobilizations in El Salvador of advocates for decriminalizing abortion. Among the slogans chanted yesterday were “Beatriz Symbolizes Women’s Rights” and “Beatriz sí, muerte no, abortion ban has got to go!” Demonstrators also chanted the demand of the Internationalist Group for free abortion on demand, from Central America to the United States.

Addressing the demonstrators, Marjorie Stamberg, speaking for the IG which initiated the protest, noted that the international outcry over the ban on abortion in this case, even though the woman’s life was endangered, finally enabled Beatriz to terminate her pregnancy with a Caesarean section. “However, the struggle for the right to abortion, and against the oppression of women continues, not only in El Salvador but also in the U.S.,” where in much of the country the right to abortion has been increasingly restricted.

Stamberg added, “It’s also a class question, since the bans largely affect poor and working-class women” who “don’t have the money to go to Los Angeles and have an abortion.” She emphasized that the total abortion ban in El Salvador and Nicaragua are being enforced by supposedly leftist governments, which however are not of the working class. “The conclusion that we must draw from this is the need to struggle for workers power,” she concluded.

Mario Pierre of the Haitian Batay Ouvriye Solidarity Committee noted the hypocrisy of the bosses’ spokesmen who pose the issue in moral terms when it is actually about money. “In Haiti, especially in the free trade zones, one thing the capitalists do is to sterilize women workers, so they won’t miss work because of pregnancy,” which could affect the profits of the companies (some of which have plants in Central America). “They’re not interested in women’s well-being but in profits.”

The organizers underlined the urgency of continuing to fight for women’s rights, in El Salvador and the rest of the world. Other groups endorsing the demonstration included the Internationalist Clubs of the City University of New York (CUNY), Jornaleros Unidos de Woodside, League for the Revolutionary Party, MADRE and Radical Women. The television channel NY1 Noticias covered the protest and broadcast a report on it that night.