FAGS
No crime to be a fag in El Salvador. In April of 2009 amendments to articles 32, 33 and 34 of El Salvador’s constitution were approved unanimously by the former legislature. These amendments cut off the possibility of civil unions, marriage or adoption by same-sex couples. Funes and his buds, after securing office, maintained that these amendments would violate the civil rights of the LBGT community. Changes in the constitution in El Salvador require approval of the amendments in one legislative period and ratification, by two-thirds majority in the next parliamentary period. These amendments did not get ratified by the new legislature.
ABORTION
A new Penal Code went into effect in 1998 outlawing abortion and allowing for a 2-10 year prison term. In 2001 a report revealed that 69 cases of illegal abortions had been prosecuted. 23 women were prosecuted because they sought medical care after a botched abortion. They hated those babies and used desperate measures to murder them such as self-induced mutilations through the use of clothes hangers, or by the ingestion of harmful amounts of hormonal contraception pills, antacids, or misoprostol, otherwise known as prostaglandin that is used to induce full-term labor. There is a movement afoot to change this law, as the bitter, hateful women of the world say this is a violation of El Salvador’s women’s rights. See this article: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42826 .
PROSTITUTION
Prostitution is not illegal. The law prohibits “inducing, facilitating, promoting or giving incentives to a person to work as a prostitute”, such as brothels or prostitution rings. The prostitution of children under 18 is illegal. Prostitution is common in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. Child prostitution is a serious problem. A study in 1998 indicated that at least 44 % of the estimated 1,300 prostitute in 3 major red light districts of San Salvador were between 13 and 18. Among all prostitutes 25% are minors. An estimated 40% of the hidden prostitutes who cater to upper-class clients are believed to be minors, according to a UNICEF study released in 2003. Sex tourism is becoming ever more lucrative and extensive. Interpol has discovered a network that shuttles children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, and forces them into prostitution in bars along the El-Salvador-Guatemala border. Agents have rescued at least 50 girls in the past two years. Police recently raided the house of a former congressman and found a large stash of child pornography. The man, a candidate for a seat on the Supreme Court, was arrested and is awaiting trial. (http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_10/issue_07/travel_01.html).
MARRIAGE AND REMARRIAGE
The most common kind of marriage in El Salvador is casual. A household is set up between and man and a woman without a civil or church service. They are recognized as married under the law but these unions can be dissolved easily. Men are now required to support children conceived in common law marriage if they dissolve the union.
There is a 64% divorce rate even though a marriage performed in a church is considered irreversible. El Salvadorians must be 18 years old to marry. Exceptions are only for females and she must be pregnant or already have children. In both common law and religious marriages, divorce law requires a separation and a reason given for said divorce. Churches, for the most part do not condone divorce. The Family Code of El Salvador understands the importance of the extended family and requires kin to support their relatives with food, clothing, housing, health care, and education. Either spouse may have to pay support to the other. Grandparents are sometimes asked to support grandchildren, and vice versa. Parents must support their children, and children 12 and under are often questioned by judges with their answers taken into account. Brothers and sisters have been ordered to pay support to their siblings.
