A woman in El Salvador has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for aggravated homicide after suffering an obstetric emergency that ended her pregnancy three years ago.

The Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion, which was assisting in the woman's defense, said in a statement on Tuesday that she was sentenced on Monday.

According to the NGO, the 28-year-old, who has only been identified as "Esme," suffered a health emergency during her pregnancy in 2019 and sought assistance in a public hospital, but was denounced and has spent the last two years in pre-trial detention. 

El Salvador maintains a total ban on abortion, including in cases of rape and incest, or where the mother's health is a risk.

"The judge acted with partiality, giving greater weight to the version offered by the Attorney General's Office, which was loaded with stigmas and gender stereotypes," the rights group said, adding it would appeal the court's decision.

Read more: Salvadoran woman jailed for abortion released after 9 years

The sentence could not be immediately confirmed because the courts were closed Tuesday for Mother's Day.

According to the group, it was the first case of its kind in the past seven years

Under its strict ban on abortion, El Salvador has arrested and sentenced to prison dozens of women who suffered apparent miscarriages. The citizen group says some 180 women have been prosecuted over the past two decades. 

The government has released 64 since 2009, and since December, eight women serving long prison sentences have had those sentences commuted.

However, "Esme's sentencing is a devastating step backward for the progress that has been made in the unlawful criminalization of women suffering obstetric emergencies in El Salvador," Paula Avila-Guillen, international human rights lawyer and executive director of the Women's Equality Center, was quoted as saying in The Guardian. 

In recent years, other countries in the region have moved towards legalizing abortion: Argentina did so in 2020, Mexico's Supreme Court decriminalized the procedure last year, and Colombia's Constitutional Court followed suit earlier this year.

(With input from AP, Reuters)