Abortion in Argentina
Encyclopedia
Abortion in Argentina is strictly limited by law. Until 2007 there were no confirmed figures of performed abortions; health authorities estimated 500,000 per year (40% of all pregnancies), in most cases presumably illegal and often outside proper sanitary conditions. Around 80,000 patients per year are hospitalized due to post-abortion complications (and must face legal punishment). Many failed abortion attempts and deaths due to them are not recorded as such and/or are not notified to the authorities.
A complete scientific study of abortion (the first of its kind in Argentina), commissioned by the Ministry of Health and performed by several independent organizations, was released in June 2007. Using indirect methods on figures from the National Health and Nutrition Survey and combining them with data from healthcare facilities, the study concluded with a minimum figure of 460,000 and a maximum of 615,000 voluntary terminations of pregnancy per year (around 60 abortions per 1,000 women). The researchers assumed that for every woman that seeks medical help due to complications of abortion, seven others do not. However a similar estimate in Mexico has been shown to be exaggerated by a factor of up to twenty times.
does not establish specific provisions for abortion, but the 1994 reform
added constitutional status for a number of international pacts, such as the Pact of San José
, which declares the right to life "in general, from the moment of conception". The interpretation of the expression "in general" in certain cases of abortion is still subject to debate.
In 1998, after a visit to the Vatican and an interview with Pope John Paul II
, President Carlos Menem
passed a decree declaring 25 March the Day of the Unborn Child. The date was due to the Catholic Holy Day of the Annunciation
(that is, the conception, by the Blessed Virgin Mary
, of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in her womb). The Menem administration had already aligned with the Holy See
in its complete rejection of abortion
and contraception
. During the first celebration of the new holiday, in 1999, the President stated that "the defense of life" was "a priority of [Argentina's] foreign policy".
President Fernando de la Rúa
(1999–2001) was not outspoken about its Catholic belief and its influence in government policies, but effectively kept them unchanged.
President Néstor Kirchner
(elected in 2003) professes the Catholic faith but is considered more progressive than his predecessors. In 2005, Health Minister Ginés González García
publicly stated his support for the legalization of abortion. Kirchner did neither support nor criticize González García's opinion in public. In a private interview, later, he assured that the law regarding abortion would not be changed during his term. In any case, harsh criticism from the Catholic Church soon shifted the focus to a "war of words" between the religious hierarchy and the national government.
Carmen Argibay
, the first woman ever to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Argentina
by a democratic government, also caused great controversy as she admitted her support for abortion rights. Pro-life organizations, led by the Catholic Church, expressed their opposition to the appointment for this cause.
In May 2006 the government made public a project to reform the Penal Code, which includes the de-criminalization of abortion. A commission studied the issue and produced a draft, intended to be presented to Congress. The project was signed by the Secretary of Criminal Policy and Penitentiary Affairs, Alejandro Slokar. On 28 May 2007, a group of 250 NGOs forming the National Campaign for Legal, Safe and Free Abortion presented a draft legislative bill to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
that would provide unrestricted access to abortion on demand up to the 12th week of pregnancy, and allow women to abort after that time in cases of rape, grave fetal malformations and mental or physical risk to the woman.
To date, though, no formal legislative debate about abortion has been conducted in Argentina.
In March 2007, Buenos Aires Province
health authorities released a protocol addressing the provision of legal abortion procedures without delays or need for judicial authorization. The main change regarding previous treatments of abortion was the explicit recognition that any case of rape can be a threat to the psychic health of the victim and thus justify an abortion request.
An abortion protocol drafted by the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism
(INADI) was presented, starting in May 2007, to provincial health ministers and legislatures for consideration. This protocol includes a series of procedures to be conducted in order to assess an abortion and the maximum permissible time spans for them. It also features a proposal to create a national registry of conscientious objector
s.
In June 2007, the legislative body of Rosario, Santa Fe Province
, adopted a protocol similar to that of Buenos Aires. Physicians assisting a woman covered by Article 86 of the Penal Code are obligated to explain her condition to the patient, offering the choice of terminating the pregnancy, as well as counseling before and after the abortion. The protocol explicitly forbids the judicialization of the procedure and warns that physicians who delay a legal abortion are liable to administrative sanctions and civil or penal prosecution.
In November 2007, the legislature of La Pampa Province
passed an abortion protocol law which included provisions for conscientious objectors and dictated that public hospitals would have to comply with an abortion request in any case. This would have made La Pampa the first district in Argentina to have an abortion protocol with the status of provincial law.
The law, howevever, was veto
ed by governor Oscar Mario Jorge as one of his first acts of government, less than three weeks later, with the argument that its new interpretation of previous legislation could be deemed unconstitutional. The protocol had been attacked with the same argument by the bishop of Santa Rosa, Rinaldo Fidel Bredice, on the day it was first passed.
, included a 30,000-people demonstration asking for unrestricted abortion.
The opposition to abortion is centered on two fronts: the religious one, led by the Catholic Church, and voiced by the ecclesiastical hierarchy and a number of civil organizations, which consider abortion the murder of an innocent person; and the legal one, represented by those who understand that abortion is forbidden by the Constitution (which must override the Penal Code).
A survey conducted in early 2005, commissioned by the Argentine branch of the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation, showed that 76% respondents were in favour of legalizing abortion for cases of rape (that is, regardless of the mental capacity of the woman), and that many also wanted abortion legalized when the fetus suffers from a deformity that will make it impossible for it to survive outside the womb. A December 2003 Graciela Romer y Asociados survey found that 30% of Argentines thought that abortion should be allowed "regardless of situation", 47% that it should be allowed "under some circumstances", and 23% that it should not be allowed "regardless of situation".
In a more recent survery conducted in September of 2011, nonprofit organization Catholics for Choice found that 45% of Argentineans are in favor of abortion for any reason in the first twelve weeks. This same poll conducted in September of 2011 also suggests that most Argentineans favor abortion being legal when a woman’s health or life is at risk (81%), when the pregnancy is a result of rape (80%) or the fetus has severe abnormalities (68%).
It is a common belief in Argentina that, the higher the economic status of the pregnant woman, the easier it is for her to get a safe abortion, while poorer women often cannot afford a clandestine procedure under sanitary conditions or post-abortion care.
In 2001, 25-year-old Luciana Monzón, from Rosario, Santa Fe, discovered that the fetus in her womb, at 16 weeks of gestation, was anencephalic
. There was virtually no chance of survival for the baby once it left the womb. Four weeks later she asked for judicial authorization to terminate the pregnancy. First one judge and then another excused themselves from dealing with the request, and the case went to the Supreme Court of Santa Fe, which dictated that the first judge should decide. By that time, however, Monzón had decided to take it to term, because of the delay. The baby was born spontaneously, weighing only 558 grams, and died 45 minutes after birth.
In 2003, a 19-year-old rape victim from Jujuy Province
, Romina Tejerina
, had a baby in secret and killed her, according to tests, in a psychotic episode. In 2005 she was sentenced to 14 years in prison. She had not accused the rapist, and had managed to conceal her state. Townspeople, public figures and some politicians expressed her support for Tejerina as a victim, and many pointed out that she should have had the chance to resort to abortion. Most notably, the sentence prompted Health Minister Ginés González García
to state his support for legal abortion for rape victims.
, Buenos Aires Province
. Her mother noticed the pregnancy, guessed what had taken place, and went to the public San Martín Hospital in La Plata
to request the abortion, allowed under the provisions of the Penal Code. The Ethics Committee of the hospital studied the case, as usual, but the prosecutor of the rape case alerted judge Inés Siro about the upcoming abortion, and Siro blocked it, based on "personal convictions". The block was appealed, and the Supreme Court of Buenos Aires overruled Siro, but the physicians at the hospital excused themselves saying that the pregnancy was now too advanced. The family of the victim was approached by a non-governmental organization that collected money and paid for the mentally disabled woman to have the abortion performed in a private context, by an undisclosed physician.
The other case, which came into the public light at about the same time, was that of a 25-year-old rape victim in Mendoza Province
with an acute mental and physical disability. The mother of the victim requested and was granted judicial authorization, but as the pre-surgical tests were being performed at the Luis Lagomaggiore Hospital, the abortion was blocked by a judicial request (a kind of injunction
) interposed by a Catholic organization. On appeal, the injunction was rejected by the Supreme Court of Mendoza, and the abortion was performed as originally planned.
As a result of both cases, all but two of the provincial Health Ministers issued a joint statement supporting the medical teams and health authorities responsible for the abortions, and expressing their commitment to the law. Minister González García further stated that "there are fanatics that intimidate and threaten" and that "tolerance to fanatical groups must be ended".
On 23 August 2006 the Argentine Episcopal Conference
issued a document titled "A Question of Life or Death", stating the Church tries to protect life "moved by the deep love of God... [and] the desire of giving value to each of the lives that are conceived", and pleading not to "seed the culture of death
in our society."
) Pro Vida Fundación 25 de Marzo (25 March Foundation).
A complete scientific study of abortion (the first of its kind in Argentina), commissioned by the Ministry of Health and performed by several independent organizations, was released in June 2007. Using indirect methods on figures from the National Health and Nutrition Survey and combining them with data from healthcare facilities, the study concluded with a minimum figure of 460,000 and a maximum of 615,000 voluntary terminations of pregnancy per year (around 60 abortions per 1,000 women). The researchers assumed that for every woman that seeks medical help due to complications of abortion, seven others do not. However a similar estimate in Mexico has been shown to be exaggerated by a factor of up to twenty times.
Legal and political debate
The Constitution of ArgentinaConstitution of Argentina
The constitution of Argentina is one of the primary sources of existing law in Argentina. Its first version was written in 1853 by a Constitutional Assembly gathered in Santa Fe, and the doctrinal basis was taken in part from the United States Constitution...
does not establish specific provisions for abortion, but the 1994 reform
1994 reform of the Argentine Constitution
The 1994 amendment to the Constitution of Argentina was approved on 22 August by a Constitutional Assembly that met in the twin cities of Santa Fe and Paraná...
added constitutional status for a number of international pacts, such as the Pact of San José
American Convention on Human Rights
The American Convention on Human Rights is an international human rights instrument.It was adopted by the nations of the Americas meeting in San José, Costa Rica, in 22 November 1969...
, which declares the right to life "in general, from the moment of conception". The interpretation of the expression "in general" in certain cases of abortion is still subject to debate.
In 1998, after a visit to the Vatican and an interview with Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, President Carlos Menem
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...
passed a decree declaring 25 March the Day of the Unborn Child. The date was due to the Catholic Holy Day of the Annunciation
Annunciation
The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her...
(that is, the conception, by the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
, of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in her womb). The Menem administration had already aligned with the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
in its complete rejection of abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
and contraception
Contraception
Contraception is the prevention of the fusion of gametes during or after sexual activity. The term contraception is a contraction of contra, which means against, and the word conception, meaning fertilization...
. During the first celebration of the new holiday, in 1999, the President stated that "the defense of life" was "a priority of [Argentina's] foreign policy".
President Fernando de la Rúa
Fernando de la Rúa
Fernando de la Rúa is an Argentine politician. He was president of the country from December 10, 1999 to December 21, 2001 for the Alliance for Work, Justice and Education ....
(1999–2001) was not outspoken about its Catholic belief and its influence in government policies, but effectively kept them unchanged.
President Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Carlos Kirchner was an Argentine politician who served as the 54th President of Argentina from 25 May 2003 until 10 December 2007. Previously, he was Governor of Santa Cruz Province since 10 December 1991. He briefly served as Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations ...
(elected in 2003) professes the Catholic faith but is considered more progressive than his predecessors. In 2005, Health Minister Ginés González García
Ginés González García
Ginés González García is a medical doctor and was the Minister of Health and Environment of Argentina during the administrations of Presidents Eduardo Duhalde and Néstor Kirchner.-Career:...
publicly stated his support for the legalization of abortion. Kirchner did neither support nor criticize González García's opinion in public. In a private interview, later, he assured that the law regarding abortion would not be changed during his term. In any case, harsh criticism from the Catholic Church soon shifted the focus to a "war of words" between the religious hierarchy and the national government.
Carmen Argibay
Carmen Argibay
Carmen María Argibay is a member of the Argentine Supreme Court of Justice. She was the first woman to be nominated for the Court by a democratic government in Argentina, and caused some controversy upon declaring herself an atheist and a supporter of legal abortion.-Career prior to the Supreme...
, the first woman ever to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Argentina
Supreme Court of Argentina
The Supreme Court of Argentina is the highest court of law of the Argentine Republic. It was inaugurated on 15 January 1863. However, during much of the 20th century, the Court and, in general, the Argentine judicial system, has lacked autonomy from the executive power...
by a democratic government, also caused great controversy as she admitted her support for abortion rights. Pro-life organizations, led by the Catholic Church, expressed their opposition to the appointment for this cause.
In May 2006 the government made public a project to reform the Penal Code, which includes the de-criminalization of abortion. A commission studied the issue and produced a draft, intended to be presented to Congress. The project was signed by the Secretary of Criminal Policy and Penitentiary Affairs, Alejandro Slokar. On 28 May 2007, a group of 250 NGOs forming the National Campaign for Legal, Safe and Free Abortion presented a draft legislative bill to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
Argentine Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....
that would provide unrestricted access to abortion on demand up to the 12th week of pregnancy, and allow women to abort after that time in cases of rape, grave fetal malformations and mental or physical risk to the woman.
To date, though, no formal legislative debate about abortion has been conducted in Argentina.
Abortion protocols
It is often the case that women who may have sought an abortion under the legal provisions of the Penal Code are not appropriately (or at all) informed of this possibility by the attending physicians, or are subject to long delays when they request a legal abortion. Physicians, due to lack of knowledge of the law and fearing legal punishment, often demand that the patient or her family request judicial authorization before terminating a pregnancy, which sometimes can extend the wait beyond the time when it is advisable to abort.In March 2007, Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
health authorities released a protocol addressing the provision of legal abortion procedures without delays or need for judicial authorization. The main change regarding previous treatments of abortion was the explicit recognition that any case of rape can be a threat to the psychic health of the victim and thus justify an abortion request.
An abortion protocol drafted by the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism
National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism
The National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism is a state agency of the Government of Argentina which is charged with receiving complaints and pursuing charges against citizens accused of acts of discrimination or hatred...
(INADI) was presented, starting in May 2007, to provincial health ministers and legislatures for consideration. This protocol includes a series of procedures to be conducted in order to assess an abortion and the maximum permissible time spans for them. It also features a proposal to create a national registry of conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
s.
In June 2007, the legislative body of Rosario, Santa Fe Province
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
, adopted a protocol similar to that of Buenos Aires. Physicians assisting a woman covered by Article 86 of the Penal Code are obligated to explain her condition to the patient, offering the choice of terminating the pregnancy, as well as counseling before and after the abortion. The protocol explicitly forbids the judicialization of the procedure and warns that physicians who delay a legal abortion are liable to administrative sanctions and civil or penal prosecution.
In November 2007, the legislature of La Pampa Province
La Pampa Province
La Pampa is a sparsely populated province of Argentina, located in the Pampas in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise San Luis, Córdoba, Buenos Aires, Río Negro, Neuquén and Mendoza.-History:...
passed an abortion protocol law which included provisions for conscientious objectors and dictated that public hospitals would have to comply with an abortion request in any case. This would have made La Pampa the first district in Argentina to have an abortion protocol with the status of provincial law.
The law, howevever, was veto
Veto
A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is the power of an officer of the state to unilaterally stop an official action, especially enactment of a piece of legislation...
ed by governor Oscar Mario Jorge as one of his first acts of government, less than three weeks later, with the argument that its new interpretation of previous legislation could be deemed unconstitutional. The protocol had been attacked with the same argument by the bishop of Santa Rosa, Rinaldo Fidel Bredice, on the day it was first passed.
Social debate
Argentina has a robust network of women's organizations whose demands include public access to abortion and contraception, such as the Women's Informative Network of Argentina (RIMA) and Catholic Women for the Right to Choose (Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir). The National Women's Meeting, held annually in different cities, gathers these and other feminist and pro-choice groups. The 20th Women's Meeting, held in October 2005 in Mar del PlataMar del Plata
Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...
, included a 30,000-people demonstration asking for unrestricted abortion.
The opposition to abortion is centered on two fronts: the religious one, led by the Catholic Church, and voiced by the ecclesiastical hierarchy and a number of civil organizations, which consider abortion the murder of an innocent person; and the legal one, represented by those who understand that abortion is forbidden by the Constitution (which must override the Penal Code).
A survey conducted in early 2005, commissioned by the Argentine branch of the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation, showed that 76% respondents were in favour of legalizing abortion for cases of rape (that is, regardless of the mental capacity of the woman), and that many also wanted abortion legalized when the fetus suffers from a deformity that will make it impossible for it to survive outside the womb. A December 2003 Graciela Romer y Asociados survey found that 30% of Argentines thought that abortion should be allowed "regardless of situation", 47% that it should be allowed "under some circumstances", and 23% that it should not be allowed "regardless of situation".
In a more recent survery conducted in September of 2011, nonprofit organization Catholics for Choice found that 45% of Argentineans are in favor of abortion for any reason in the first twelve weeks. This same poll conducted in September of 2011 also suggests that most Argentineans favor abortion being legal when a woman’s health or life is at risk (81%), when the pregnancy is a result of rape (80%) or the fetus has severe abnormalities (68%).
It is a common belief in Argentina that, the higher the economic status of the pregnant woman, the easier it is for her to get a safe abortion, while poorer women often cannot afford a clandestine procedure under sanitary conditions or post-abortion care.
Recent cases
Several cases of pregnancy resulting from rape and one involving a nonviable fetus have sparked debate about abortion in Argentina since the beginning of the 21st century.In 2001, 25-year-old Luciana Monzón, from Rosario, Santa Fe, discovered that the fetus in her womb, at 16 weeks of gestation, was anencephalic
Anencephaly
Anencephaly is a cephalic disorder that results from a neural tube defect that occurs when the cephalic end of the neural tube fails to close, usually between the 23rd and 26th day of pregnancy, resulting in the absence of a major portion of the brain, skull, and scalp...
. There was virtually no chance of survival for the baby once it left the womb. Four weeks later she asked for judicial authorization to terminate the pregnancy. First one judge and then another excused themselves from dealing with the request, and the case went to the Supreme Court of Santa Fe, which dictated that the first judge should decide. By that time, however, Monzón had decided to take it to term, because of the delay. The baby was born spontaneously, weighing only 558 grams, and died 45 minutes after birth.
In 2003, a 19-year-old rape victim from Jujuy Province
Jujuy Province
Jujuy is a province of Argentina, located in the extreme northwest of the country, at the borders with Chile and Bolivia. The only neighboring Argentine province is Salta to the east and south.-History:...
, Romina Tejerina
Romina Tejerina
Romina Tejerina is an Argentine woman who was sentenced on June 10, 2005 to 14 years in prison for the February 23, 2003 murder of her baby daughter. The baby was the product of sexual abuse that Tejerina suffered in August 2002, that she had been afraid to reveal...
, had a baby in secret and killed her, according to tests, in a psychotic episode. In 2005 she was sentenced to 14 years in prison. She had not accused the rapist, and had managed to conceal her state. Townspeople, public figures and some politicians expressed her support for Tejerina as a victim, and many pointed out that she should have had the chance to resort to abortion. Most notably, the sentence prompted Health Minister Ginés González García
Ginés González García
Ginés González García is a medical doctor and was the Minister of Health and Environment of Argentina during the administrations of Presidents Eduardo Duhalde and Néstor Kirchner.-Career:...
to state his support for legal abortion for rape victims.
The 2006 cases
In 2006, two cases of rape of mentally disabled women became subject of extensive media coverage and debate. One of them involved 19-year-old L.M.R., from GuernicaGuernica, Buenos Aires
Guernica is a town in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the head town of the Presidente Perón Partido. Guernico is situated on the outskirts of the Greater Buenos Aires urban conurbation around 30km from the autonomous city of Buenos Aires....
, Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
. Her mother noticed the pregnancy, guessed what had taken place, and went to the public San Martín Hospital in La Plata
La Plata
La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....
to request the abortion, allowed under the provisions of the Penal Code. The Ethics Committee of the hospital studied the case, as usual, but the prosecutor of the rape case alerted judge Inés Siro about the upcoming abortion, and Siro blocked it, based on "personal convictions". The block was appealed, and the Supreme Court of Buenos Aires overruled Siro, but the physicians at the hospital excused themselves saying that the pregnancy was now too advanced. The family of the victim was approached by a non-governmental organization that collected money and paid for the mentally disabled woman to have the abortion performed in a private context, by an undisclosed physician.
The other case, which came into the public light at about the same time, was that of a 25-year-old rape victim in Mendoza Province
Mendoza Province
The Province of Mendoza is a province of Argentina, located in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders to the north with San Juan, the south with La Pampa and Neuquén, the east with San Luis, and to the west with the republic of Chile; the international limit is...
with an acute mental and physical disability. The mother of the victim requested and was granted judicial authorization, but as the pre-surgical tests were being performed at the Luis Lagomaggiore Hospital, the abortion was blocked by a judicial request (a kind of injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
) interposed by a Catholic organization. On appeal, the injunction was rejected by the Supreme Court of Mendoza, and the abortion was performed as originally planned.
As a result of both cases, all but two of the provincial Health Ministers issued a joint statement supporting the medical teams and health authorities responsible for the abortions, and expressing their commitment to the law. Minister González García further stated that "there are fanatics that intimidate and threaten" and that "tolerance to fanatical groups must be ended".
On 23 August 2006 the Argentine Episcopal Conference
Argentine Episcopal Conference
The Argentine Episcopal Conference is an episcopal conference of the Roman Catholic Church of Argentina that gathers the bishops of the country in order to discuss pastoral issues and in general all matters that have to do with the Church...
issued a document titled "A Question of Life or Death", stating the Church tries to protect life "moved by the deep love of God... [and] the desire of giving value to each of the lives that are conceived", and pleading not to "seed the culture of death
Culture of life
The phrase "culture of life" is a term used in discussion of moral theology, especially of the Catholic Church. Its proponents describe it as a way of life based upon the theological truth that human life at all stages from conception through natural death is sacred...
in our society."
External links
Red Informativa de Mujeres de Argentina (Women's Informative Network of Argentina, RIMA). Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir (Catholic Women for the Right to Decide). Derecho al Aborto (Right to Abortion) Vida Humana Internacional (Latin American chapter of Human Life InternationalHuman Life International
Human Life International is an American-based Roman Catholic activist pro-life organization. Founded in 1981 by Father Paul Marx , HLI is located in Front Royal, Virginia. Human Life International describes itself as "the largest international pro-life organization in the world", noting that it has...
) Pro Vida Fundación 25 de Marzo (25 March Foundation).