The release of a Salvadoran woman who spent 15 years in prison for murder after a miscarriage late in to her pregnancy has sparked a new round of heated debate about El Salvador’s extreme anti-abortion laws.

Maira Figueroa was working as a domestic servant when she started hemorrhaging nine months into her pregnancy, which was the result of rape. After being taken to hospital she soon found herself handcuffed to her bed and accused of killing her baby.

At the age of 19 she was sent through a swift trial, filled with irregularities, that led to a 30-year sentence that has now been cut in half by El Salvador’s supreme court.

Figueroa, now in her 30s, was greeted by her parents and women’s rights activists when she emerged from prison in San Salvador on Tuesday, a tiny figure looking rather shellshocked as she carried her possessions in a clear plastic bag.

Asked what she regretted most she said: “The time I’ve lost.”