A pregnant leukemia patient from the Dominican Republic has died after doctors delayed her chemotherapy in hopes of saving the baby and in light of the country’s strict anti-abortion law.

The 16-year-old cancer patient was in critical condition and 13 weeks pregnant when she was admitted to the hospital. Citing the abortion ban, doctors waited 20 days after admission to finally begin chemotherapy.

“My daughter’s life is first. I know that (abortion) is a sin and that it goes against the law … but my daughter’s health is first,” Hernandez said, as she pleaded with the doctors to start the treatment sooner.

Unfortunately, last Friday, after the delayed treatment, the teen succumbed to complications as her body rejected the chemotherapy and the blood transfusion. She then suffered a miscarriage and cardiac arrest, before she eventually passed.

“They have killed me, I’m dead, dead. I’m nothing,” the mournful Hernandez said. ” She was the reason for my existence. I no longer live. Rosa has died. Let the world know that Rosa is dead.”

According to Article 37 of the Dominican Constitution, “The right to life is inviolable from the moment of conception and until death.”