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Introduction to the Case 

Soon, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) will rule on Beatriz v. El Salvador. In this case, the Court will decide whether the State of El Salvador is responsible for not providing Beatriz the option of aborting her anencephalic daughter. Beatriz suffered from lupus erythematosus, and pregnancy could have caused complications that could have led to her death. However, none of that occurred. The State of El Salvador ensured support and medical attention for Beatriz and her daughter, who was born, lived for 5 hours before passing away. Beatriz loved that daughter and buried her properly. Five years later, Beatriz passed away in a motorcycle accident. 

Pro-abortion organizations have used this case to create a precedent in which the Court rules in favor of abortion. The facts presented are distorted and manipulated to make it seem like Beatriz wanted an abortion, that the State did not give her that option, and that her death resulted from the inability to access abortion. 

The case is of vital importance because for the first time in its history, the IACHR is resolving a specific abortion case. Although the American Convention’s text is clear regarding the protection of the unborn, and, in numerous rulings, the Court has recognized the legal status of the unborn person, in the Artavia Murillo ruling, the Court made a restrictive interpretation of the right to life, determining the human embryo would not be considered a person, and the clause “in general” would indicate that the protection of the unborn under the Convention is “gradual” and “incremental” from the moment of implantation in the maternal womb, thus redefining the term “conception”. However, until 2022, the Court only used this interpretation in the Artavia Murillo ruling and in one IACHR report. Therefore, it could be expected that the Court does not follow this same logic since it would go against the type of restrictive interpretation prohibited by Article 29 of the American Convention: by granting only “gradual” and “incremental” protection to the unborn person. 

Contrary to what is usual in law, where comments on judgments are made after their publication, the Beatriz v. El Salvador case has caused numerous authors to want to write about a judgment that has not yet occurred. That is why this article aims to highlight the efforts of these authors and encourage their reading, not only to know the fallacies that have been used to promote abortion in the region but above all to know solid arguments that reject this globalist pretension and undermine the sovereignty of countries. 

Publications 

The first publication we want to highlight is the free book Abortion Before the IACHR: Regarding the Beatriz v. El Salvador Case, published by Editorial El Derecho (2024), which addresses, from various interdisciplinary perspectives, the issues at stake in this case. 

This book, in which numerous internationally renowned authors have participated, proposes the analysis of the following topics: 

  • Introduction: A Roadmap of the Beatriz v. El Salvador Case, by the editors of the work; 
  • Human Dignity in International Human Rights Law and the Beatriz et al. v. El Salvador case, by Paolo Carozza (University of Notre Dame); 
  • Conventional Interpretation and Populism: An Approach from the Beatriz Case, by Juan Cianciardo (University of Navarra); 
  • Artavia Murillo, Beatriz, and the Dissolution of the Rule of Law, by Pilar Zambrano (University of Navarra); 
  • What Really Matters Are Not the Treaties but How the Inter-American Human Rights System Works in Practice, by Max Silva Abbott (University of St. Sebastian); 
  • Keys to Resolving the Beatriz Case: The Legal Status of Abortion and the Protection of the Unborn, by Gabriela García Escobar (Panamerican University) and José Gilberto Solís Jiménez (University of Navarra); 
  • The Beatriz v. El Salvador Case and the Creation of an International Right to “Therapeutic” and Eugenic Abortion in the Inter-American Human Rights System, by Ligia de Jesús Castaldi (Ave Maria School of Law); 
  • Palliative Care and Perinatal Psychology in Families with a Diagnosis of Anencephaly: A Contribution from Health Sciences, by Graciela Moya (Catholic University of Argentina) and Ivanna Dehollainz (University of Buenos Aires); 
  • The Beatriz Case and the Abortion of People with Disabilities, by Jorge Nicolás Lafferriere (Catholic University of Argentina; University of Buenos Aires); 
  • The Notion of Torture, Cruel, Inhumane and Degrading Treatment in International Human Rights Law: Considerations Regarding the Beatriz et al. v. El Salvador Case, by María Carmelina Londoño Lázaro (University of La Sabana). 

The second publication worth mentioning is a website that has been created specifically about this case. This page details all the maneuvers to use this case as a tool for promoting abortion in the region. 

The website also provides evidence of the partiality of the IACHR, and how the Court is used as a tool to impose abortion in the region. It reveals that the Court’s funding significantly influences the direction of its decisions. 

Conclusion 

As Julio Pohl states in a review of the book, but which can be applied to both publications, these resources will “definitely contribute to enriching the academic debate, enlightening the judges who will decide the case, and cultivating the academic and non-academic community on a topic of high legal and moral complexity.” Although both resources will need to be updated once the Court publishes the judgment, “this does not detract from the enormous argumentative value that the book presents, which precisely because it is current, it is necessary. All contributions have enduring elements that will withstand the test of time and will need to be taken up by all those interested in the functioning of the Inter-American System.” 

Read the Spanish version of this post here.

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