The writer is a member of Colectiva Feminista and a president of the Agrupación Ciudadana abortion rights NGO in El Salvador

I can still feel the anguish I experienced when El Salvador’s legislature voted to outlaw abortion in April 1997. I addressed the Legislative Assembly on behalf of feminist groups. So did the organisation Yes to Life — although they, of course, got much more time. We took part not because we thought we were going to change the way the vote would go — that was a foregone conclusion — but because we wanted to draw attention to three things.

First, that women were being denied the right to a presumption of innocence agreed in the 1992 peace accords that ended El Salvador’s 12-year civil war. Second, we wanted to show that in this country, there are people who think differently. Third, and above all, we wanted to put on record that women would be accused and convicted under this legislation and would come to feminist groups for help.