El Salvador has some of the most extreme anti-abortion laws in the world, putting women in danger and putting the country at odds with the global trend of expanding access to reproductive health care. El Salvador is one of a handful of countries in the world where abortion is banned under all circumstances, including cases of rape and when a pregnancy poses a clinically verifiable risk to a woman’s health.

To get the world to care, we invited people to spend 19 minutes getting to know one of the 129 prosecuted women. Our hard-hitting documentary short, 'Mothers Of', focuses on El Salvador abortion laws told through the lens of one very personal story, that of Teodora del Carmen Vasquez who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for having a stillbirth. We follow Teodora's journey from her conviction to the family she left behind to her eventual release a decade later and how today, she continues to fight for the release of the 25 women still imprisoned.

Center for Reproductive Rights

THE IMPACT

  • ‘Mothers of’ was an official selection of the Hot Docs International Festival, the most prestigious documentary festival in North America. Both screenings of the film were sold out