Argentina`s Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday began discussing in committee the abortion legalization project submitted by alberto Fernández`s government, an issue that horizontally divides parties in a country with strong Catholic influence. The minister pointed out: “I said it a long time ago with a sentence that seems to me to summarize all this: if it were a male problem, it would have been solved a long time ago” and also thought of the issue of abortion as a problem of social justice. The presentation of the executive project was led by Vilma Ibarra, Legal and Technical Secretary of the Presidium. Ibarra said the state is trying to support maternity and early childhood projects through the “Thousand Days” project and also for people with the ability to get pregnant who need a voluntary termination of pregnancy. In this spirit, the official warned that “the policy of criminalizing abortion has failed to threaten women in prison in the face of the decision to terminate their pregnancies.” It is estimated that there are between 370,000 and 520,000 clandestine abortions per year in Argentina, said the head of the Legal and Technical Secretariat of the presidency, Vilma Ibarra, one of the supporters of the text. “While there will certainly be resistance, I think it`s fair to predict that, as happened when Argentina legalized same-sex marriage in 2010, this new law could have a domino effect in the region.” Minjersky, a 91-year-old lawyer, is one of 10 speakers who will address MPs for the “green vote”, while 10 others will defend the “heavenly” vote against the legalisation of abortion. “The Argentine people are for life. Now we will see what the legislators do, whether they are accountable to the president or to the people,” an activist who preferred to remain anonymous during the march told AFP. “I know there are unexpected pregnancies, I respect women`s rights. But I don`t recognize abortion as a right.
The debate will begin with a joint videoconference of the Committees on General Legislation, Criminal Law, Women and Diversity, Social Action and Public Health, which will be responsible for preparing an opinion on the subject on 10 December. This is the ninth time that an IVE (Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy) project has entered Congress, but it is the first to be sent by the executive branch. Only once, in 2018, did the debate reach the district, where it was approved by lawmakers but rejected in the Senate. “We are all for life, but we are against secrecy. Abortion exists, exists and will continue to exist,” said MP Adriana Cáceres of the right-wing PRO party, defending the law in response to groups that oppose the project and define themselves as pro-life. In the same party, MP Carmen Polledo rejected the project because it “seeks the elimination of a being who thrives in the womb”. The Argentine Minister of Health, Ginés González García, opened the debate in the Chamber of Deputies on the project to legalize abortion. Presentations are expected from 50 speakers, 25 for legalization, 25 against, each with 7 minutes to speak. Please visit us for the final event of our special webinar series, which takes place every last Friday of the month. Led by Professor Moira Fradinger, this series is part of a collaboration with CLAIS, the Latin American Interdisciplinary Gender Network and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) to highlight gender studies and gender issues in Latin America. In December 2020, Argentina legalized abortion after a decades-long struggle.
Political debates on abortion are at their peak in the region. Talk with Elisa Walker of Chile, Martha Rosenberg of Argentina and Marta Lamas of Mexico about the path to legalization in Argentina and the ongoing battles in Chile and Mexico. This event will be held in Spanish with English translation. Registration link below. Polonia: activistas por el derecho al aborto bloquean el Ministerio de Educación El Ejecutivo argentino quiere legalizar el aborto en las 14 primeras semanas de gestación. The bill`s referral to Congress fuels the division of the country and fuels the “green tide” and “celestial wave” in the streets. To the rhythm of the drums and in a climate of joy, hundreds of women in green scarves – who identify the fight for legal abortion – and the celestials against it have declared that they are ready to continue the vigil until the time of the vote. In nearby Congressional districts, giant screens broadcast the debate live. Several rows of fences divide the public space to keep activists away with badges and green masks from celestial activists.
Argentina`s president on Tuesday sent Congress a bill to legalize the voluntary termination of pregnancy. Health analysts estimate that there are between 370,000 and 520,000 clandestine abortions per year in Argentina, with 39,000 hospitalizations per year in public health centers, according to government statistics. If Argentina approves legal abortion, it will join Cuba, Uruguay, Guyana and Mexico City, which allow it in Latin America. This year, the Initiative for the Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy (IVE) until the 14th week of pregnancy was presented by the president of the centre-left party, Alberto Fernández, to “ensure that all women have access to the right to holistic health”. Several ministers followed the debate from the stands, an opportunity to support the project and remind MPs who vote against that the initiative is the executive. After more than 10 hours of a debate that began just before noon, 86 of the 164 nominated speakers had spoken. Gonzales García presented national statistics on the number of hospital discharges for abortions in the public sector recorded up to 2017. This number, Ginés pointed out, “decreases considerably thanks to the use of innovation, misoprostol.” However, the minister said that, given this drug solution, there is a barrier to entry for many Argentines. The policy change was rejected by Congress on other occasions, although it never had the explicit support of the ruling party. A similar law to decriminalize abortion was narrowly defeated in the Senate in 2018. The debate on the legalization of abortion in Argentina returned to the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday (10/12/2020), where it is estimated that there will be a positive vote before it is transmitted to the Senate, two years after the failure of a similar initiative.
The nation`s Minister of Health, Ginés Gonzales García, for his part, made his presentation. He recognized himself as a health expert who has long struggled to solve the problem of abortion: “What is happening today has been going on for a long time. Its consequences are deaths, infections, hospitalizations, expenses. The evidence is compelling and abortion as a public health problem is a serious problem. And if we solve it scientifically and technically, we eliminate a cause of death. And stigma also criminalizes women and leads to the fact that the health care system does not have an adequate response. The debate on the legal termination of pregnancy began in the country`s Chamber of Deputies with a plenary session of the Committee on General Legislation, Criminal Law, Women and Diversity, Social Action and Public Health. In it, presentations by officials and specialists were organized to prepare the project, which will be discussed at the meeting. Thousands of people summoned by the Catholic Church, the Evangelical Church and civil organizations protested against Alberto Fernández`s plan to legalize abortion. “The passage of a law legalizing abortion in a Catholic country as large as Argentina will undoubtedly intensify the fight to guarantee women`s rights in Latin America,” said Juan Pappier of Human Rights for the Americas.
Thousands of feminists and supporters of the initiative gathered with flags and green scarves outside the congress in downtown Buenos Aires, waiting for the bill to pass, while a crowd of abortion opponents took to the streets wearing blue scarves.
