In Landmark Court Decision, Latin America Protects National Pro-Life Laws

The 2022 Dobbs decision reversed 49 years of judicial activism under Roe v. Wade, freeing states to decide their own abortion law through democratic processes. What many Americans missed is that Dobbs, rather than only affecting the United States, sparked global momentum in the defense of life. America rejected national pro-abortion extremism, and Latin America followed close behind.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), a regional tribunal that enforces the American Convention on Human Rights ratified by Mexico and many Caribbean and Central and South American countries, recently decided Beatriz v. El Salvador, a case regarding Beatriz, a young Salvadoran woman with lupus, who was denied an abortion under her country’s pro-life law. Though Beatriz did not enjoy the strongest physical health due to her sickness, she was able to carry and deliver her baby, and she gave birth to a little girl, Leilany. Sadly, Leilany had a life-shortening disability, and she died after five precious hours outside her mother’s womb.