Highlighting the case of Beatriz, a woman in El Salvador who sought an abortion in “a challenge to one of the strongest anti-abortion laws in the world,” the New York Times examines whether “doctors in a country that bans abortion under any circumstances manage[d] to terminate the pregnancy without violating the law” when they performed “a caesarean section that ended her high-risk pregnancy after almost seven months of gestation.” According to the newspaper, “With no guidance on how to proceed in complicated cases or a clear definition of what constitutes an abortion, [doctors] say, the country’s strict penal code has left itself open to interpretation.” The New York Times notes, “At its root, some legal experts said, the case was largely a battle over words.” The news analysis examines measures doctors have taken in the past to skirt the law (Zabludovsky/Palumbo, 6/4).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

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