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- The demonstration was launched by twelve concerned associations.
- Minister of Health, Ginés González García, is asked to annul an “unconstitutional” protocol that seeks to impose abortion rights throughout Argentina.
Hundreds of people marched on 18 December 2019 to the Ministry of Health to ask Minister Ginés González García to seek a repeal of the abortion protocol he approved in a “ministerial resolution” after assuming his position.
Induced abortion in Argentina is generally only legal when it is either to avoid danger to the woman, or if the pregnancy resulted from rape. A woman who intentionally causes her own abortion or consents to another person illegally aborting her child is liable for up to 4 years imprisonment. Anyone performing or causing an illegal abortion is liable for up to 15 years imprisonment.
Despite this, there are an estimated half a million abortions carried out every year in Argentina. This represents about 40% of all children conceived. Not only do the children die but the women quite often suffer effects ranging from sterility and depression to death.
Dr. Rodríguez Lastra, who — given Argentina’s laws — was rather bizarrely found guilty in May 2019 of trying to save an unborn child, spoke to the demonstrators.
What I am going to talk about is what touches us as a society, can you be so miserable? Is it possible to disregard the tools of democracy? Months of debate with qualified people, a refusal of the congress to abortion and all that discarded in the trash because it is not functional to the interests of a few.
Dr. Rodríguez Lastra
Dr. Fernando Secin, who campaigns on several human rights issues including child abuse, suicide and abortion was also present. He spoke of the way doctors are being addressed by the Argentinian state.
They want to use us to impose an ideology, to use us to deceive the mother. A very clear example is to lower the volume of the ultrasound so that the mother does not hear the heartbeat of her child. They want to use us to offer as an alternative death when we [first] have an interview with a pregnant woman.
Dr. Fernando Secin
Both Amnesty and Human Rights Watch are in favour of abortion and have made attempts to influence politicians in the country. A federal bill was put forward during Summer 2019 but failed. Human Rights Watch claim the consequences of illegal and unsafe abortion have ‘constituted the leading cause of maternal mortality’, though “maternity” is usually used to refer the period during pregnancy and shortly after childbirth, not to someone illicitly killing an unborn child.
In November 2019, Argentina’s president, Alberto Fernández, promised he would legalise abortion after taking office on 10 December.
CitizenGO is a weapon that all of us who defend life, family and freedom have. We are the only signature request platform that has these values. In our signature campaign we ask the Minister to repeal this killing protocol, and to the Governors of the Provinces we remind you that Argentina is a federal country and we ask you not to adhere to the protocol.
Silvina Spataro, Director of Campaigns for CitizenGO in Argentina
