Argentina braces for abortion vote

France 24 ^ | 08 08 18 | Claire Mufson

[CondoleezzaProtege]

The Senate in deeply Catholic Argentina has begun a session to debate and vote on a bill legalising elective abortions in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

Argentina, the homeland of Pope Francis, is still a very religious society. The Catholic and Evangelical churches have long exerted a strong political and cultural influence.

Between 350,000 and 500,000 illegal abortions are performed each year in Argentina. Argentina’s health ministry has estimated that hundreds of women die from secret, unsafe procedures, making it the leading cause of maternal death. An additional 45,000 to 60,000 women are hospitalised each year due to complications.

Pro-choice demonstrations have been growing for months, at times bringing the capital of Buenos Aires to a standstill. Green scarves, for the colour adopted by the women’s rights movement, are ubiquitous. Many are emblazoned with white letters reading: “Sex education to decide. Contraceptives to avoid abortion. Legal abortion to avoid death.”

Neighbouring nations in particularly are paying attention. If the bill passes, Argentina would become the most populous nation in the region to legalise abortion. In Latin America and the Caribbean, seven countries still have total bans on abortion. In El Salvador women who receive abortions can face long jail times on charges of aggravated homicide. Elective abortions are legal only in Cuba, Guyana, Uruguay and Mexico City.

The campaign in Argentina has inspired women in other countries. The now iconic green handkerchiefs were adopted in Chile where thousands rallied in Santiago to demand an overhaul the country’s restrictive abortion laws. In Brazil, home to the world’s largest Catholic population, the Supreme Court held a public hearing to consider the constitutionality of its abortion laws.

Despite the change in public opinion, Argentina’s Senate is widely expected to fall short of the votes needed to pass the bill.

[lightman]

Ping.

[Mrs. Don-o]

"Argentina’s health ministry has estimated that hundreds of women die from secret, unsafe procedures, making it the leading cause of maternal death. An additional 45,000 to 60,000 women are hospitalised each year due to complications..."

That speaks poorly of abortion itself, since it's likely that most illegal abortions in Argentina, like most illegal abortions in pre-Roe America, are done by doctors. Yes, dangerous abortions done by the same doctors who would be doing them if they were legal.

Those figures, for the most middle-class country in SA with at most 12 million women of reproductive age (12-50), are not credible, and I would bet my annual income that they're flat-out manufactured, just as NARALs' pre-Roe figures of U.S. maternal death and injury from illegal abortion, were manufactured by Larry Lader and Bernard Nathanason--- as Nathanson himself admitted.

Yes, even if the figures come from Argentina's Health Ministry.

I stand willing to be corrected, if anybody's got better figures.

[Mrs. Don-o]

The Argentina Health Ministry is quite explicitly biased in favor of abortion, as documented here (LINK):

"When he made the announcement in March, [Argentine President Mauricio] Macri vowed that the federal government would stay out of the debate. However, his health minister lobbied on national television for the bill to pass and addressed both the Senate and the Chambers of Deputies during a series of public hearings."

[Constitution Day]

Argentina's Senate Rejects Historic Bill to Legalize Abortion