 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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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it would allow the C-section because the pregnancy was already at 26 weeks and the country's strict abortion laws were no longer applicable.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 danger signs to save Beatriz's life, said Maria Isabel Rodriguez of the health ministry. 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. 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. 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. "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.