A seriously ill woman denied a medical abortion has had a successful cesarean section to deliver a baby that doctors have given little chance of surviving, El Salvador's Health Ministry announced late Monday. 
 
 The 22-year-old woman, known only as Beatriz for privacy reasons, underwent the operation in the afternoon after 27 weeks of pregnancy, the ministry said. Her baby girl was born without a brain. 
 
 "No one can say how long she will live," Morena Herrera of the Feminist Collective for Local Development told The Associated Press. "It was painful to see the little creature. That's what the grandmother told us, and the doctors confirmed it." 
 
 The country's Supreme Court last week prohibited an abortion for Beatriz, who suffers from lupus and kidney failure and whose lawyers said the pregnancy was threatening her life. Her plight drew international attention and a ruling from the Inter-American Court on Human Rights that El Salvador should protect her life and help her end the pregnancy. 
 
 The Health Ministry stepped in late last week after the ruling and said it would allow the C-section because the pregnancy was already at 26 weeks and the country's strict abortion laws were no longer at play. Ultrasound images had indicated her fetus was developing with only a brain stem. 
 
 The Health Ministry can determine what is most medically sound for a mother versus the unborn baby and was lauded internationally for working to save the woman's life. 
 
 Doctors at the Maternity Hospital had been preparing to perform the C-section at the slightest danger signs to save Beatriz's life, said Maria Isabel Rodriguez of the health ministry. 
 
 The woman was recovering under the close watch of doctors late Monday. 
 
 El Salvador's laws prohibit all abortions, even when a woman's health is at risk. Beatriz and any doctor who terminated her pregnancy would have faced arrest and criminal charges. 
 
 A majority of judges on the high court rejected the appeal by Beatriz's lawyers, saying physical and psychological exams by the government-run Institute of Legal Medicine found that her diseases were under control and that she could continue the pregnancy. 
 
 Just as the Health Ministry was resolving the case, the Inter-American Court issued its ruling, but it no longer applied in the case. 
 
 Abortion opponents said the case was being used to press for legalized abortion in El Salvador, which has some of the toughest abortion laws in Latin America, along with Chile, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Suriname. ||||| SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - The pregnant woman at the centre of an abortion controversy in El Salvador had her malformed foetus delivered on Monday by Caesarean section to save her life and avoid breaking the law, although the baby did not survive. 
 
 El Salvador's Health Ministry said doctors attending the woman, who uses the name "Beatriz" to protect her identity, performed a Caesarean to remove the foetus, thereby avoiding an abortion, which is illegal in the country. 
 
 The Central American country banned all types of abortion in 1999, but Beatriz's foetus had a serious condition known as anencephaly, which results in only partial brain development. Such a foetus has little or no chance of surviving after birth. 
 
 Health Minister Maria Isabel Rodriguez said the operation took place about 2 p.m. (2000 GMT) and that Beatriz, who had been 27 weeks pregnant, was in stable condition. 
 
 "She's in good hands, being looked after well," she told Reuters. "I expect things to go well over the next few hours." 
 
 Shortly afterward, Rodriguez said that Beatriz's baby daughter died about five hours after the operation. 
 
 Beatriz, 22, suffers from lupus and kidney problems, which posed a serious threat to her own health. 
 
 The operation followed a non-binding resolution on Thursday by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that called on El Salvador to take action to save Beatriz's life after the country's courts had denied her an abortion. 
 
 El Salvador's Supreme Court rejected Beatriz's request for an abortion on the grounds it breached the constitution, which it said protects life from the moment of conception. 
 
 The Caesarean delivery provided El Salvador with a way out of the legal wrangle. 
 
 Morena Herrera, a spokeswoman for the abortion rights group Colectivo Feminista, said that although Beatriz could have been spared unnecessary suffering, her life had been saved. 
 
 Claudia Handal, a spokeswoman for the anti-abortion group Red Familia, said the rights of all had been respected. 
 
 "We're very happy because as we said from the beginning, it wasn't necessary to perform an abortion, the point was to respect the baby's life and to give Beatriz the care and the right to health that she deserved," Handal told Reuters. 
 
 The case has drawn attention to abortion in El Salvador and attitudes toward the procedure in predominantly Roman Catholic Latin America. Some countries such as Colombia are relaxing their rules in order to permit abortions in cases of rape. 
 
 (Editing by Dave Graham and Peter Cooney) ||||| A seriously ill woman denied a medical abortion has had a caesarean section to save her life and avoid breaking the law, although the baby did not survive, El Salvador's health ministry announced late on Monday. 
 
 The 22-year-old woman, known only as Beatriz for privacy reasons, underwent the operation in the afternoon after 27 weeks of pregnancy, the ministry said. Her baby girl was born without a brain. 
 
 Health minister María Isabel Rodriguez said the operation took place about 2pm local time and that Beatriz was in a stable condition. 
 
 "She's in good hands, being looked after well," she told Reuters. "I expect things to go well over the next few hours." 
 
 Shortly afterward, Rodriguez said that Beatriz's baby daughter died about five hours after the operation. 
 
 The country's supreme court last week prohibited an abortion for Beatriz, who suffers from lupus and kidney failure and whose lawyers said the pregnancy was threatening her life. 
 
 Her plight drew international attention and a ruling from the Inter-American court on human rights that El Salvador should protect her life and help her end the pregnancy. 
 
 The health ministry stepped in late last week after the ruling and said it would allow the C-section because the pregnancy was already at 26 weeks and the country's strict abortion laws were no longer applicable. Ultrasound images had indicated her foetus was developing with only a brain stem. 
 
 Doctors at the maternity hospital had been preparing to perform the C-section at the slightest sign of danger to save Beatriz's life, said Rodriguez. 
 
 El Salvador's laws prohibit all abortions, even when a woman's health is at risk. Beatriz and any doctor who terminated her pregnancy would have faced arrest and criminal charges. 
 
 A majority of judges at the high court rejected the appeal by Beatriz's lawyers, saying physical and psychological exams by the government-run Institute of Legal Medicine found that her diseases were under control and that she could continue the pregnancy. 
 
 Just as the health ministry was resolving the case, the inter-American court issued its ruling, but it no longer applied in the case. 
 
 Abortion opponents said the case was being used to press for legalised abortion in El Salvador, which has some of the toughest abortion laws in Latin America, along with Chile, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Suriname. 
 
 Claudia Handal, a spokeswoman for the anti-abortion group Red Familia, said the rights of all had been respected. 
 
 "We're very happy because as we said from the beginning, it wasn't necessary to perform an abortion, the point was to respect the baby's life and to give Beatriz the care and the right to health that she deserved," Handal told Reuters.
– After being denied an abortion despite serious health concerns, a Salvadoran woman known only as Beatriz has undergone a cesarean section to save her life, the AP reports. The baby girl was born without a brain 27 weeks into the pregnancy and died five hours later, the Guardian reports. El Salvador's health ministry was able to circumvent its strict anti-abortion laws and allow the C-section because the pregnancy had passed the 26-week mark. Beatriz, who had suffered from lupus and kidney failure, is now in stable condition, says the health minister. "She's in good hands, being looked after well." A rep for an abortion rights group says she faced unnecessary suffering, reports Reuters. Last week, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights ruled that the abortion should be allowed, but that ruling came as El Salvador settled the issue with the C-section plan.