Abstract: the Lack of Legal and Safe Abortions Is Killing the Women of Argentina

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Abstract: the Lack of Legal and Safe Abortions Is Killing the Women of Argentina

ITP: Argentina 2011 Faculty Advisor: Professor Hannon Research Group Members: Richard Benjamin, Anna Geml, Lysondra Ludwig & Alexandra Sloan Paper Title: Abortion in Argentina Abstract: The lack of legal and safe abortions is killing the women of Argentina. In Argentina, an estimated 500,000 pregnancies are illegally aborted each year. 68,000 women enter the public hospitals due to complications from unsafe abortions, and over 100 women die per year. Currently, a new law is being debated in Congress that would liberalize legal access to abortions. This Paper discusses the political and social landscapes of Argentina in relation to the abortion laws, and how these landscapes will be affected if the proposed new abortion law is passed. Part I discusses the current laws, the implementation of these laws, and their effects on Argentine women. Part II explains the women’s movement and its progress and details a proposed bill currently being considered. Part III explores the interaction of Catholicism and abortion laws, as well as the Church’s relationship with the proposed law. Finally, Part IV examines external influences on the provision of abortions. This Paper demonstrates that Argentina is potentially on the verge of a major change in abortion laws. The current law is not being implemented effectively, and the changes that have occurred in the women’s movement, societal attitudes and relationships with the Catholic Church, and significance of international jurisprudence, all support the adoption of the proposed new law. Many internal Argentine groups have played a major role in the history of the abortion debate, and stand to be significantly impacted if the new law passes, as this Paper asserts it will. .

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Feminist Mobilization and the Abortion Debate in Latin America: Lessons from Argentina
Feminist Mobilization and the Abortion Debate in Latin America: Lessons from Argentina Mariela Daby Reed College [email protected] Mason Moseley West Virginia University [email protected] When Argentine President Mauricio Macri announced in March 2018 that he supported a “responsible and mature” national debate regarding the decriminalization of abortion, it took many by surprise. In a Catholic country with a center-right government, in which public opinion regarding abortion had hardly moved in decades—why would the abortion debate surface in Argentina when it did? Our answer is grounded in the social movements literature, as we argue that the organizational framework necessary for growing the decriminalization movement was already built by an emergent feminist movement of unprecedented scope and influence: Ni Una Menos. Through expanding the movement’s social justice frame from gender violence to encompass abortion rights, feminist social movements were able to change public opinion and expand the scope of debate, making salient an issue that had long been politically untouchable. We marshal evidence from multiple surveys carried out before, during, and after the abortion debate and in-depth interviews to shed light on the sources of abortion rights movements in unlikely contexts. When Argentine President Mauricio Macri announced in March 2018 that he supported a “responsible and mature” national debate regarding the decriminalization of abortion, many were surprised. After all, in 2015 he was the first conservative president elected in Argentina in over a decade, and no debate had emerged under prior center-left governments. Moreover, Argentina is a Catholic country, which has if anything seen an uptick in religiosity over the past decade, and little recent movement in public support for abortion rights preceding Macri’s announcement.
[Show full text]
A CASE for LEGAL ABORTION WATCH the Human Cost of Barriers to Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Argentina
HUMAN RIGHTS A CASE FOR LEGAL ABORTION WATCH The Human Cost of Barriers to Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Argentina A Case for Legal Abortion The Human Cost of Barriers to Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Argentina Copyright © 2020 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-62313-8462 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org AUGUST 2020 ISBN: 978-1-62313-8462 A Case for Legal Abortion The Human Cost of Barriers to Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Argentina Summary ......................................................................................................................... 1 Recommendations ........................................................................................................... 8 To the President of Argentina: .................................................................................................
[Show full text]
International Human Rights Law and Abortion in Latin America
Human Rights and Abortion July 2005 International Human Rights Law and Abortion in Latin America Latin America is home to some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world. While only three countries—Chile, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic—provide no exceptions or extenuating circumstances for the criminal sanctions on abortion, in most countries and jurisdictions, exceptions are provided only when necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life and in certain other narrowly defined circumstances. Even where abortion is not punished by law, women often have severely limited access because of lack of proper regulation and political will. Advancing access to safe and legal abortion can save women’s lives and facilitate women’s equality. Women’s decisions about abortion are not just about their bodies in the abstract, but rather about their human rights relating to personhood, dignity, and privacy more broadly. Continuing barriers to such decisions in Latin America interfere with women’s enjoyment of their rights, and fuel clandestine and unsafe practices, a major cause of maternal mortality in much of the region. Latin American women’s organizations have fought for the right to safe and legal abortion for decades. Increasingly, international human rights law supports their claims. In fact, international human rights legal instruments and interpretations of those instruments by authoritative U.N. expert bodies compel the conclusion that access to safe and legal abortion services is integral to the fulfillment of women’s human rights generally, including their reproductive rights and rights relating to their full and equal personhood. This paper offers (1) a brief overview of the status of abortion legislation in Latin America and (2) an in-depth analysis of international human rights law in this area.
[Show full text]
Pregnancy, Femicide, and the Indispensability of Legalizing Abortion: a Comparison Between Argentina and Ireland
Emory International Law Review Volume 34 Issue 3 2020 Pregnancy, Femicide, and the Indispensability of Legalizing Abortion: A Comparison Between Argentina and Ireland Agustina M. Buedo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/eilr Recommended Citation Agustina M. Buedo, Pregnancy, Femicide, and the Indispensability of Legalizing Abortion: A Comparison Between Argentina and Ireland, 34 Emory Int'l L. Rev. 825 (2020). Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/eilr/vol34/iss3/3 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Emory Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Emory International Law Review by an authorized editor of Emory Law Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BUEDOPROOFS_5.11.20 5/11/2020 1:12 PM PREGNANCY, FEMICIDE, AND THE INDISPENSABILITY OF LEGALIZING ABORTION: A COMPARISON BETWEEN ARGENTINA AND IRELAND INTRODUCTION Although Argentina has relatively high levels of education, strong civil- society groups, and a long history of feminist activism, the country remains stagnant on change regarding women’s rights, specifically, reproductive rights.1 Among the long-standing human rights problems in Argentina is the “endemic violence against women, restrictions on abortion, [and] difficulty accessing reproductive services.”2 Argentine law considers abortion a crime with the exception of two narrowly defined circumstances: (a) if the abortion is carried out with the purpose of averting risk to the mother’s life or health when that risk cannot be averted by any other measure; or (b) in the case of the rape of a mentally disabled woman.3 This kind of law perpetuates both the cultural and institutional restraints surrounding abortion that are “paradigmatic of how women’s bodies are socially regulated in Argentina.”4 Restricting abortion has severe implications—more violence against women.
[Show full text]
Stigma and Abortion in Argentina Raquel Drovetta
Status: Preprint has not been submitted for publication Stigma and Abortion in Argentina Raquel Drovetta DOI: 10.1590/SciELOPreprints.1308 This preprint was submitted under the following conditions: The authors declare that they are aware that they are solely responsible for the content of the preprint and that the deposit in SciELO Preprints does not mean any commitment on the part of SciELO, except its preservation and dissemination. The authors declare that the research that originated the manuscript followed good ethical practices and that the necessary approvals from research ethics committees are described in the manuscript, when applicable. The authors declare that the necessary Terms of Free and Informed Consent of participants or patients in the research were obtained and are described in the manuscript, when applicable. The authors declare that the preparation of the manuscript followed the ethical norms of scientific communication. The authors declare that the manuscript was not deposited and/or previously made available on another preprint server. The submitting author declares that all authors responsible for preparing the manuscript agree with this deposit. The authors declare that in the event that this manuscript has previously been submitted to a journal and being evaluated, they have received the journal's consent to make the deposit on the SciELO Preprints server. The submitting author declares that all authors' contributions are included on the manuscript. The authors declare that if the manuscript is posted on the SciELO Preprints server, it will be available under a Creative Commons CC-BY license. The deposited manuscript is in PDF format. If the manuscript is being reviewed and published by a journal, the authors declare that they have received authorization from the journal to make this deposit.
[Show full text]
Abortion Laws in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies
This is a repository copy of Abortion Laws in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies. Book Review. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/98822/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Krajewska, A. orcid.org/0000-0001-9096-1056 (2016) Abortion Laws in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies. Book Review. Medical Law Review, 24 (2). pp. 290-296. ISSN 0967-0742 https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwv041 Reuse Unless indicated otherwise, fulltext items are protected by copyright with all rights reserved. The copyright exception in section 29 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows the making of a single copy solely for the purpose of non-commercial research or private study within the limits of fair dealing. The publisher or other rights-holder may allow further reproduction and re-use of this version - refer to the White Rose Research Online record for this item. Where records identify the publisher as the copyright holder, users can verify any specific terms of use on the publisher’s website. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Abortion Laws in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies REBECCA J COOK, JOANNA N ERDMAN, BERNARD M DICKENS (eds.) Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014, 480 pp., hardback, £45.50, 9780812246278 Atina Krajewska, Sheffield Law School, University of Sheffield, England, [email protected] For a while at least, it seemed that proponents and opponents of decriminalisation and liberalisation of abortion laws had become entrenched in their well-known positions and that national legislators and politicians had reached a form of, usually fragile, consensus.
[Show full text]
Illusions of Care RIGHTS Lack of Accountability for Reproductive Rights in Argentina WATCH
Argentina HUMAN Illusions of Care RIGHTS Lack of Accountability for Reproductive Rights in Argentina WATCH Illusions of Care Lack of Accountability for Reproductive Rights in Argentina Copyright © 2010 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 11-56432-669-1 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA Tel: +1 212 290 4700, Fax: +1 212 736 1300 [email protected] Poststraße 4-5 10178 Berlin, Germany Tel: +49 30 2593 06-10, Fax: +49 30 2593 0629 [email protected] Avenue des Gaulois, 7 1040 Brussels, Belgium Tel: + 32 (2) 732 2009, Fax: + 32 (2) 732 0471 [email protected] 64-66 Rue de Lausanne 1202 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 738 0481, Fax: +41 22 738 1791 [email protected] 2-12 Pentonville Road, 2nd Floor London N1 9HF, UK Tel: +44 20 7713 1995, Fax: +44 20 7713 1800 [email protected] 27 Rue de Lisbonne 75008 Paris, France Tel: +33 (1)43 59 55 35, Fax: +33 (1) 43 59 55 22 [email protected] 1630 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 500 Washington, DC 20009 USA Tel: +1 202 612 4321, Fax: +1 202 612 4333 [email protected] Web Site Address: http://www.hrw.org August 2010 1-56432-669-1 Illusions of Care Lack of Accountability for Reproductive Rights in Argentina Summary ........................................................................................................................... 1 Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 5 Methodology .....................................................................................................................
[Show full text]
Dear Committee Experts, This Report Has Been Produced
SITUATION OF ABORTION IN ARGENTINA Dear Committee Experts, This report has been produced byAbogados y Abogadas del NOA en Derechos Humanos y Estudios Sociales (ANDHES), Asociación Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir- Argentina (CDD), Asociación Lola Mora, Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad (CEDES), Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Centro de la Mujer (CEDEM), Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres (CLADEM), Equipo Latinoamericano de Justicia y Género (ELA), Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer (FEIM), Instituto de Genero, Derecho y Desarrollo (INSGENAR), Lesbianas y Feministas por la descriminalización del aborto, Mujeres por Mujeres, Mujeres Trabajando, Mujeres Autoconvocadas de Trelew, Secretaría de Género de Encuentro por la Democracia y la Equidad CABA (Nuevo Encuentro and the Gender-Based Violence Observatory under the Buenos Aires Province Ombudsman’s Office). The purpose of this submission is to present information on the situation in terms of access to abortion in Argentina to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee). We hope this information will beuseful inassessing the Argentinean State’s compliance with its obligations under the CEDAW Convention. The report includes suggestions, questions and recommendations around each of the issues raised, in the hope that they will be taken into account by the Committee during the country reviewplanned for its 65th session as well as at the time of issuing its Concluding Observations on Argentina. 1 I. The situation of abortionin Argentina Abortion in Argentina: Legal Framework Since 1921, Article 86 of the National Penal Code establishes exceptions for criminalizing abortion: a) when the woman's life is at risk; b) when the woman's health is in danger; c) in case of rape; d) in case of moral outrage against an “idiot or demented” woman.
[Show full text]
Guardian Ad Litem Representation for Prenatal Children
William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice Volume 19 (2012-2013) Issue 3 William & Mary Journal of Women and Article 3 the Law May 2013 A Child Needs a Champion: Guardian Ad Litem Representation for Prenatal Children Mark H. Bonner Jennifer A. Sheriff Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl Part of the Family Law Commons Repository Citation Mark H. Bonner and Jennifer A. Sheriff, A Child Needs a Champion: Guardian Ad Litem Representation for Prenatal Children, 19 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 511 (2013), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl/vol19/iss3/3 Copyright c 2013 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl A CHILD NEEDS A CHAMPION: GUARDIAN AD LITEM REPRESENTATION FOR PRENATAL CHILDREN MARK H. BONNER & JENNIFER A. SHERIFF* INTRODUCTION I. THE ROLE OF GUARDIANS AD LITEM IN THE UNITED STATES AND FOREIGN JURISDICTIONS A. The Role of Guardians Ad Litem in the United States B. The Role of Guardians Ad Litem in Foreign Jurisdictions C. The Rights of Prenatal Children Under International Law II. LEGAL PROTECTION FOR PRENATAL CHILDREN A. Guardians Ad Litem Are Already Being Appointed for Prenatal Children in Certain Legal Contexts B. Compelled Medical Treatment for Prenatal Children Against Their Mothers’ Wishes C. Legal Prohibitions Against Harming Prenatal Children Outside the Context of Abortion 1. Criminal Prosecution of Third Parties Who Harm Prenatal Children 2. Civil Penalties for Third Parties Who Harm Prenatal Children 3. Civil Actions Against Mothers Who Harm Their Prenatal Children 4.
[Show full text]
Argentina Submission to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 65Th Session, 24 October-18 November, 2016
ARGENTINA SUBMISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN 65TH SESSION, 24 OCTOBER-18 NOVEMBER, 2016 Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 7 million people who campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all. Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. We are independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion and are funded mainly by our membership and public donations. © Amnesty International 2016 Except where otherwise noted, content in this document is licensed under a Creative Commons (attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives, international 4.0) licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode For more information please visit the permissions page on our website: www.amnesty.org Where material is attributed to a copyright owner other than Amnesty International this material is not subject to the Creative Commons licence. First published in 2016 by Amnesty International Ltd Peter Benenson House, 1 Easton Street London WC1X 0DW, UK Index: AMR 13/4898/2016 Original language: Spanish a mnesty.org CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 4 2.1 NON-PUNISHABLE ABORTION IN ARGENTINA: 4 Recommendation: 5 2.2 OBSTRUCTING ACCESS TO LEGAL ABORTIONS 5 Recommendations: 5 2.3 CRIMINALISATION OF SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS 6 Recommendations: 7 2.4 ESTIMATED NUMBER OF CLANDESTINE ABORTIONS 7 Recommendation: 7 2.5 LACK OF ACCESS TO DRUG-INDUCED ABORTIONS 7 Recommendation: 8 2.6 MATERNAL MORTALITY RATE IN ARGENTINA 8 Recommendation: 9 2.7 INFORMATION ON THE PRACTICE OF LEGAL ABORTIONS 9 Recommendation: 10 2.8 SITUATION OF GIRLS AND FEMALE ADOLESCENTS 10 Recommendations: 12 2.9 INFORMATION ACCESS AND PRODUCTION 12 Recommendations: 12 3.
[Show full text]
To Legalizing Abortion: a Comparative Analysis of Ireland, the United States and Argentina
ARGENTINA’S PATH TO LEGALIZING ABORTION: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF IRELAND, THE UNITED STATES AND ARGENTINA Andrea F. Noguera* INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 357 I. ABORTION IN THE UNITED STATES AND ARGENTINA ............................ 360 A. The Extent to Which the United States and Argentine Supreme Court Decisions Recognize a Woman’s Right to Abortion .................................................................................. 360 1. The United States: Roe v. Wade and its Progeny ................ 360 2. Argentina: F.A.L. s/ medida autosatisfactiva ...................... 363 B. The Argentine Supreme Court’s approach, unlike the United States, recognizes an obligation of the State to assist women in obtaining an abortion ............................................. 369 C. Rights and Remedies as Two Sides of the Same Coin: Positive and Negative Duties .................................................. 372 II. ARGENTINA’S 2018 CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE: THE POINT OF NO RETURN .......................................................................................... 374 A. The Effect of the Language Used in the Slogans of Opposing Sides: “Pro-Choice” Versus “Pro-Life” ................................ 374 1. The Main Arguments Discussed During the 2018 Debate .. 375 a. The Right to Abortion as a Human Right 376 b. The Proportionality Test 378 c. Abortion as a Central Issue of Public Health 381 d. Individual Versus Institutional Conscientious Objection 382 * Andrea Noguera graduated from Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Argentina, and earned an LL.M. in Civil Liberties and Human Rights in May 2019 at Southwestern Law School, Los Angeles, California. The author would like to thank Sabrina Frydman, a Human Rights Argentinian lawyer, for being an inspiration and providing ideas, comments, and confidence; Professors Jonathan Miller and Alexandra D´Italia, for providing guidelines and useful suggestions; and Sharrel Gerlach, Southwestern Law School librarian for providing research tools.
[Show full text]
The Harms of the Cleansing of Conscience Objection on the Practice of Medicine
The Harms of the Cleansing of Conscience Objection on the Practice of Medicine Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Cynthia Jones-Nosacek, MD Graduate Program in Bioethics The Ohio State University 2020 Thesis Committee: Ashley Fernandes, Advisor Ryan Nash Courtney Thiele Copyright by Cynthia Jones-Nosacek 2020 Abstract Secular bioethicists such as Ronit Stahl and Ezekiel Emmanuel (among others) look at controversial issues such as abortion and reproductive health and have declared that consensus has been reached. Those who disagree are told that if they cannot sacrifice their consciences, they should sacrifice their careers. They assert that people who agree to enter the field of medicine are bound by the decisions of various medical societies, even ones they do not belong to. It is those societies alone who will determine what it means to be a physician. But what happens if conscience is removed from the moral equation and ceded to a medical society? While there are limits to conscientious objection where there is imminent risk of injury or death, the cleansing from the practice of medicine of persons who have moral objections would harm not only physicians and the medical profession, but most importantly, harm patients. First, the impact of the removal of conscience will be decidedly negative. Physicians will know that they cannot be trusted based on their own moral values, that even their own medical societies don’t trust them. They can be forced to act against their conscience without any evidence than what they were doing is causing anything more than subjective patient disagreement or inconvenience.
[Show full text]