A woman jailed for “abortion” when her baby died after birth has been freed from a 30-year sentence in a case critics said highlighted El Salvador’s “deep gender bias”.

The 28-year-old, identified only as Lilian, gave birth to a girl in a public hospital in 2015 but the baby suffered health complications, was placed inside an incubator and died three days later.

Prosecutors subsequently accused her of not taking care of the foetus during pregnancy, and she was charged with “aggravated murder” before being jailed.

Lilian, who has a 10-year-old daughter, maintained her innocence throughout her more than seven-year stint in prison.

She argued that she never intended to terminate her pregnancy and that she had suffered a uterine rupture during labour.

Abortion illegal in any circumstances

Last month, a judge acquitted her of the 30-year sentence after a review of the original verdict.

The judge said Lilian’s baby had in fact died due to medical negligence at the hospital where she gave birth.

Abortion is illegal in any circumstances in El Salvador, which critics say extends to women who suffer miscarriages and stillbirths.

Many women have been sentenced to decades in prison on charges of killing their children.

“I spent horrible, tedious and difficult years in prison,” Lilian told reporters on Wednesday after being freed, explaining that she had only had two visits from her daughter while behind bars “because I didn’t want her to see me there”.

“In the name of all my fellow women, I ask you to stop accusing and prosecuting other innocent women like me,” she said.

Lilian was thought to be the last woman imprisoned in El Salvador on charges linked to abortion.

Some 73 women have been released over the last decade after being handed prison sentences between 25 to 50 years for supposedly causing the death of their unborn or newborn babies, according to the Citizens Group for the Decriminalisation of Abortion.

“They are victims of this country’s deep gender bias and the cruelty of prosecutors,” said Angélica Rivas, a lawyer for the campaign organisation.

No intention of changing law

About 20 cases on charges linked to abortion are still being tried in El Salvador, according to the group.

President Nayib Bukele, who is widely expected to be re-elected next month, has said he intends to improve conditions in hospitals to make childbirth safer in the country.

But he has also made clear he has no intention of changing the existing abortion law.

El Salvador’s ban on abortions is total, with no exemptions in cases of rape or when the pregnancy poses a health risk for the mother.

Abortion carries a prison sentence of up to 12 years but in many cases the charge is changed to aggravated homicide, which carries a minimum sentence of 30 years and can lead to up to half a century in jail.

Central American neighbours Nicaragua and Honduras, as well as the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, also impose blanket bans on abortion.