Devaluing Women’s Lives through Law: Familyism Ideologies in Abortion and Violence against Women Laws in El Salvador

Abstract

El Salvador’s violence against women (VAW) and antiabortion laws present optimal empirical ground to examine the intersection of familyism ideology, laws, and the state relevant beyond this case. Analyzing legal documents, content of laws, and newspapers, we juxtapose these two laws that have followed different applications within the same socio-legal context and historical time, legal reasoning, and juridical structure to identify a common thread: the control of women’s bodies and devaluation of women’s lives enshrined in the legal system. “Familyism” ideology embedded in the law prioritizes family over women’s rights where social class emerges as a central factor. The analysis centers the state, as it interacts with and responds to pressures from the international community and domestic political forces to create, align, and implement antiabortion and VAW laws while devaluing gender ideologies that seek to protect women. In sum, both laws prioritize family at the expense of women’s rights and lives, especially poor and socially disadvantaged women.