Las 17: "What is happening in El Salvador is not so far removed from the US," (Lexington Herald-Leader, 10/27/2014)

What is happening in El Salvador is not so far removed from the United States, where some groups are advocating for a "no abortion, no exception" rules, Viterna said. 

"Salvadoran women who claim to have suffered miscarriage or stillbirth are being imprisoned for up to 40 years for intentionally killing their children... [dubbed "Las 17"] has been the focus of a report by Amnesty International and has received extensive coverage in the press in El Salvador....

Jocelyn Viterna, an associate professor of sociology at Harvard University, became interested in the cases of the 17 women while working on a book about women in war in El Salvador. Vitnera heard of Davis from a friend as she was working to help a Salvadoran feminist group, Citizens' Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion, gain pardons for the woman.

Viterna, who is now researching discrimination against pregnant woman in El Salvador, said the plight of the women in prison is tied to changes in Salvadoran abortion laws in the 1990s. Abortion was outlawed in El Salvador, she said, following a backlash to minor changes in the countries abortion laws."