Meet the Women Fighting One of the World’s Most Oppressive Anti-Abortion Laws

In El Salvador, all abortion is illegal and women have been imprisoned after miscarriages and stillbirths. These bold activists are taking on the system.

Photos by Danielle Villasana

“I was 20 years old when I entered Ilopango,” whispers Adriana Rodríguez, 32, who looks at the ground as she speaks, strands of dark hair falling over her face while she talks about the years she spent in prison. At 19, she discovered she was pregnant but told nobody, not even her family. As she recounts the story of the birth of her child, she stutters, sits quietly for minutes and then begins to cry without making a sound. Rodríguez, who is just under five feet tall, nestles her tiny frame into a chair in the office of the building where she works as a janitor. She rarely makes eye contact while speaking.