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Argentine woman imprisoned after her baby died

Video Credit: Reuters - Politics - Duration: 01:57s - Published
Argentine woman imprisoned after her baby died

Argentine woman imprisoned after her baby died

In 2015, Rosalia Reyes started getting painful contractions, passed out and woke up in a pool of blood, having given birth to a baby who had already died.

That night started a legal saga.

Libby Hogan has more.

One night in 2015 led to an eight year prison sentence for Rosalia Reyes.

After coming home from a twelve hour shift, she was gripped by a wave of painful contractions.

The mother of four passed out on the bathroom floor, and then woke up in a pool of blood.

She realized she'd given birth to a baby who had already died.

It sparked a legal saga that took over her life, what she calls a "nightmare." Reyes lives in Argentina, where until this week, abortion was criminalized.

The only exceptions were cases of rape or a serious risk to the mother's health.

Under that law, Reyes was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Prosecutors alleged that she did not provide the baby with necessary care and asked for a life sentence.

Reyes couldn't believe it.

She's one of 37 other women in Argentina charged in connection with miscarriages.

Over 1,300 women have been charged with breaking the law against abortion.

Her case was a focus of activists in Argentina's 'green wave', the movement that's pushed for women's reproductive rights in the country.

Their green flags flew on the streets of Buenos Aires on Wednesday when a Senate vote made Argentina the first big country in Latin America to legalize abortion against the protests of the influential Catholic Church, who say it violates the right to life.

For Reyes, it's given her new hope.

She has appealed her conviction and is waiting for a ruling on that appeal.

"Now I can keep fighting for other people, for the women who are going through the same situation or even worse - supporting them with the 'green handkerchiefs,' the feminists." Beyond Argentina, in Latin America abortion on demand is only legal in Cuba, Uruguay and parts of Mexico.




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