IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 39 

Expressing the sense of Congress to support the case of Beatriz, a young 

woman from a rural area of El Salvador, living in extreme poverty 

and with lupus, who fought for her life against the state to allow 

her to terminate a pregnancy that put her at risk, which exposed the 

serious consequences of the absolute criminalization of abortion in El 

Salvador, and urging the Salvadoran state to assume its international 

obligations in the field of human rights. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 2, 2023 

Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia (for herself, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. LEE

of California, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, Ms. CROCKETT, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, 

Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. 

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, 

Mr. PAYNE, Ms. SA ́NCHEZ, and Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ) submitted the following 

concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 

Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of Congress to support the case of 

Beatriz, a young woman from a rural area of El Salvador, living in extreme poverty and with lupus, who 

fought for her life against the state to allow her to 

terminate a pregnancy that put her at risk, which exposed the serious consequences of the absolute criminalization of abortion in El Salvador, and urging the SalvaVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:39 May 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\HC39.IH HC39

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•HCON 39 IH 

doran state to assume its international obligations in 

the field of human rights. 

Whereas, in March 2013, Beatriz, a young woman living in 

poverty with lupus, was told she was 11 weeks pregnant 

with a high-risk pregnancy; 

Whereas Beatriz’s pregnancy was found to be unviable given 

the diagnosis of anencephaly; 

Whereas medical staff agreed that Beatriz’s pregnancy had to 

be terminated due to Beatriz’s deteriorating health and 

life endangerment; 

Whereas the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court 

of Justice denied Beatriz’s petition to provide her lifesaving abortion care and necessitated the Inter-American 

Commission on Human Rights to intervene and grant 

temporary precautionary measures in Beatriz’s favor on 

April 29, 2013, and the Inter-American Court of Human 

Rights issued a similar order on May 29, 2013; 

Whereas, on June 3, 2013, Beatriz underwent a cesarean 

section, and the anencephalic fetus died 5 hours later; 

Whereas Beatriz was denied access to a legal, early, and 

timely abortion in a case of an anencephalic pregnancy, 

which not only damaged her health, personal integrity, 

and life, but also violated the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, 

and her right to live a life free from violence and discrimination as is stated in the United Nations Universal 

Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; 

Whereas the United States has joined the international community in identifying reproductive rights as human 

rights, including in connection with the 1994 InterVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:39 May 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC39.IH HC39

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•HCON 39 IH 

national Conference on Population and Development, the 

1995 Beijing World Conference on Women, and through 

its ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and 

Political Rights in New York, on December 19, 1966, the 

International Convention on the Elimination of All 

Forms of Racial Discrimination in New York, on December 21, 1965, and the Convention against Torture and 

Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in New York, on December 10, 1984; 

Whereas General Comment No. 36 (2018) on article 6 of the 

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 

which was adopted by the Human Rights Committee on 

October 30, 2018, asserts that states’ parties— 

(1) should ensure access for all persons to ‘‘quality 

and evidence-based information and education about sexual and reproductive health and to a wide range of affordable contraceptive methods’’; 

(2) ‘‘must provide safe, legal, and effective access to 

abortion where the life and health of the pregnant woman 

or girl is at risk, or where carrying a pregnancy to term 

would cause the pregnant woman or girl substantial pain 

or suffering, most notably where pregnancy is the result 

of rape or incest or is not viable’’; 

(3) ‘‘ensure the availability of, and effective access 

to, quality prenatal and post-abortion health care for 

women and girls’’; and 

(4) must not impose restrictions on the ability of 

women or girls to seek abortion in a manner that jeopardizes their lives, subjects them to physical or mental 

pain or suffering, discriminates against them, arbitrarily 

interferes with their privacy, or places them at risk of undertaking unsafe abortions; 


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•HCON 39 IH 

Whereas United Nations treaty-monitoring bodies established 

that abortion restrictions violate human rights, including 

the rights to life, health, and privacy, and the right to 

equality and nondiscrimination or freedom from torture 

and ill-treatment, among others; 

Whereas United Nations treaty-monitoring bodies have repeatedly recognized the connection between restrictive 

laws on abortion and maternal mortality due to unsafe 

abortion; 

Whereas access to the full range of sexual, gender-affirming, 

and reproductive health care, including abortion, is essential to the health and well-being of all people; 

Whereas reproductive and sexual health care providers administer high-quality, essential health care, and play a 

critical role in ensuring people are able to make decisions 

about their bodies and lives with dignity, empathy, compassion, and respect; 

Whereas no one should be criminalized for any pregnancy 

outcome; 

Whereas no one should be criminalized for providing essential 

health care; 

Whereas the threat of criminalization or prosecution can result in negative outcomes by intimidating people from 

seeking or providing care; 

Whereas health care providers have an ethical obligation to 

provide essential care to their patients and to protect the 

private medical information integral to the patient-provider relationship; 

Whereas Indigenous people, Afro-descendant people, people of 

color, people with low incomes, people living in rural 

areas, people with disabilities, migrants, LGBTQ+ indiVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:39 May 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC39.IH HC39

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•HCON 39 IH 

viduals, and other marginalized individuals are disproportionately likely to be surveilled, arrested, charged, prosecuted, convicted, and heavily punished within the criminal justice system; 

Whereas Indigenous people, Afro-descendant people, people of 

color, people with low incomes, people living in rural 

areas, people with disabilities, migrants, LGBTQ+ individuals, and other marginalized individuals are more likely, due to persistent disparities, to experience adverse 

pregnancy outcomes that place them under the scrutiny 

of the legal system; 

Whereas limiting access to sexual and reproductive health 

and rights, including access to abortion, also limits pathways to economic, social, and political empowerment; 

Whereas sexual and reproductive health and rights are intrinsically linked to gender justice and improved health outcomes for women and their children; 

Whereas abortion is recognized as essential public health care 

as determined by the World Health Organization (WHO); 

Whereas self-managed abortion is a safe and scientifically 

documented health service that can be performed without 

the participation of medical professionals to increase access in the most remote locations; 

Whereas the most recent WHO abortion guidelines recommend the full decriminalization of abortion, the removal of grounds-based restrictions on abortion, and gestational age limits on abortion provision, and include selfmanaged abortion among the WHO-recommended methods and models of care; 


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•HCON 39 IH 

Whereas reproductive coercion, which is any behavior that 

interferes with autonomous decision making about reproductive health outcomes, is a violation of human rights; 

Whereas the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization 

decision has decimated abortion access in the United 

States, and cases like Beatriz’s are being seen across 

many of the States that have banned or severely restricted abortion access, including a recent lawsuit 

brought by 5 women and 2 obstetricians and gynecologists against the State of Texas after the women were 

denied abortion care even though they were facing severe 

and dangerous pregnancy complications and even though 

the women’s conditions should have qualified under the 

State’s abortion ban exceptions, and as a result of the denials, their conditions worsened, posing great risks to 

their fertility, health, and lives; 

Whereas the United States Department of State included in 

its 2021 Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 

El Salvador reports of discrimination, wrongful incarceration, abuse, and mistreatment of women who suffered 

pregnancy complications and miscarriages, and acknowledged the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ 2021 

ruling in Manuela v. El Salvador that the government 

violated the right to personal freedom, life, health, and 

justice in the case of Manuela, a woman sentenced to 30 

years in prison after suffering a pregnancy loss; and 

Whereas punishing people for their pregnancy outcomes or 

for providing essential reproductive and sexual health 

care violates their human rights: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That Congress— 


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•HCON 39 IH 

1 (1) condemns the absolute criminalization of 

2 abortion in El Salvador and anywhere in the world; 

3 (2) affirms that all people deserve access to 

4 high-quality health care without fear of reprisal or 

5 punishment; 

6 (3) calls upon the Inter-American Court of 

7 Human Rights to recognize that total criminaliza8 tion of abortion violates the rights to life, health (in9 cluding mental health), freedom from torture, and 

10 information; and 

11 (4) urges States that still have a total ban on 

12 abortion to decriminalize abortion and protect and 

13 guarantee human rights. 

Æ 


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