cases in which a “mother kills her child during the delivery or within the following seventytwo hours.”82 36. In this regard, the 1998 Criminal Code establishes: Article 128. Simple homicide. Anyone who kills another person shall be sentenced to fifteen to twenty years’ imprisonment. Article 129. Aggravated homicide. Aggravated homicide is considered to be homicide committed in any of the following circumstances: 1) Forebears or descendants […]. The sentence shall be thirty to fifty years’ imprisonment. […] Article 133. Self-induced and consented abortion. Anyone who causes an abortion with the consent of the woman or the woman who causes her own abortion or consents to another person performing this, shall be sentenced to two to eight years’ imprisonment. Article 134. Anyone who causes an abortion, without the consent of the woman, shall be sentenced to four to ten years’ imprisonment. Anyone who performs an abortion, after obtaining the woman’s consent by violence or deceit shall receive the same sentence. Article 135. Aggravated abortion. If the abortion is committed by a doctor, pharmacist, or persons who perform auxiliary activities in the said professions when they engage in this practice, they shall be sentenced to six to twelve years’ imprisonment. In addition, they shall be sentenced to special disqualification from the exercise of their profession or activity for the same period. Article 136. Inducement of, or assistance for, abortion. Anyone who induces a woman to abort or provides her with the financial or other means so that she may have an abortion shall be sentenced to two to five years’ imprisonment. If the person who induces or provides assistance for the abortion is the progenitor, the sentence shall be increased by a third of the maximum sentence indicated in the preceding paragraph. Article 137. Culpable abortion. Anyone who culpably causes an abortion shall be sentenced to six months’ to two years’ imprisonment. Self-induced culpable abortion and attempts at this by the pregnant woman shall not be punishable.83 37. Subsequently, in 1999, the Legislative Assembly adopted an amendment to article 1 of the Constitution of El Salvador establishing the recognition as a human person of “every human being from the moment of conception.”84 38. Regarding professional secrecy, the Health Code establishes: Article 37. Professional secrecy is an obligation derived from the very essence of the profession. Public interest, patient safety, family honor and professional respectability require this secrecy; therefore, anything seen, heard or discovered in the exercise of the profession must be maintained confidential. Article 155 of the 1973 Criminal Code established that “the mother who kills her child during the delivery or within the following seventy-two hours, in a state of violent emotion made excusable by the circumstances, shall be sentenced to one to four years’ imprisonment.” Legislative Assembly of the Republic of El Salvador. Criminal Code, Legislative Decree No. 270 of February 13, 1973, article 155. Available at: https://oig.cepal.org/sites/default/files/ 1973_decreto270codigopenal_el_salvador.pdf 82 Criminal Code of El Salvador. Legislative Decree No. 1030 of April 26, 1997, articles 128, 129, 133, 135, 136, and 137. Available at: https://www.asamblea.gob.sv/sites/default/files/documents/decretos/C0AB56F8-AF37-4F25AD90-08AE401C0BA7.pdf 83 Constitution of the Republic of El Salvador, Legislative Decree No. 38 of 1983, amended on February 16, 1999, by Decree No. 1451. Available at: https://www.asamblea.gob.sv/sites/default/files/documents/decretos/ B93EEAF8-C2CE-47FD-804E-74489D7AAF1B.pdf 84 17