hot button domestic issues

A few months ago, you couldn't pick up a newspaper in Buenos Aires that didn't have "Aborto!" splattered all across the headlines as a few special cases arose this winter to challenge Argentina's anti-abortion laws.

To start, abortion is illegal in Argentina except in two cases:
1. If an abortion is the only means to save a mother's life or protect her physical or mental health.
2. In cases of rape or incest.

In addition, the penalties for illegal abortion are as follows:
1. Doctors who perform illegal abortions are subject to 3 to 10 years of imprisonment plus the loss of their medical license for twice the amount of time as their sentence.
2. Women who induce their own abortions can face 1 to 4 years of imprisonment.

Sounds a little like a liberal version of South Dakota, no? Well, let's get on with what happened here in August.

The first abortion case in the papers dealt with a 19 year old mentally disabled woman, known only as LMR, who was raped and subsequently became pregnant. When LMR's mother figured out that her daughter was preganant, she deduced how it happened and took her daughter to the hospital for a legal abortion. LMR's mother claimed that having the child would be harmful to her daughter's mental state, as her daughter has the mind of a nine year old and cannot understand the concept of being a mother. At the time, LMR was thought to be 14 weeks pregnant.
The ethics committee at the hospital was reviewing the case, I'm guessing due to the strict penalties for illegal abortions. Before the ethics committee reached their decision, a prosecutor in LMR's rape case alerted Judge Ignacio Siro to LMR's planned abortion. Siro then blocked the abortion due to "personal convictions". On appeal, the Supreme Court of Buenos Aires overruled Siro (who's now being impeached), but the doctors at the hospital refused to perform the procedure. LMR was now at 20 weeks and the physicians said that they could not guarantee her safety if they proceeded with the abortion. Incidentally, the other option here was to induce birth. None of the doctors were willing to do this because they might be charged with homicide, according to Clarín. Of course, the doctors might have had plenty of other objections to inducing birth, including personal ones.
LMR's mother was relieved when the matter was finally settled. Although her main concern had been for LMR's mental health, the mother was grateful to learn that the family would be receiving psychological and social assistance from the government.

Also in August, another mentally-disabled woman was seeking an abortion due to rape, this time in the province of Mendoza. The victim's mother requested a judicial authorization for an abortion, but it was blocked by an injunction from a Catholic organization. The Supreme Court in Mendoza overturned the injunction, and the abortion was performed as planned.*

The Ministerio de Salud estimates that between 500,000 and 700,000 illegal abortions are performed in Argentina annually. Public opinion holds that the more money a woman has, the more accessible safe abortion is. Around 80,000 women are hospitalized each year after botched abortions.

The legal question of abortion in Argentina is complicated by the Constitution. In 1994, constitutional reforms gave the international Pact of San Jose constitutional status. This pact between Latin American countries focuses mainly on human rights but also declares the right to life "in general, from the moment of conception". The open wording here has led to some debate about abortion.

Contraceptives are readily available in pharmacies in the parts of the city that I know. The pill is even available without a prescription. However, in the villas (the "underprivileged" neighborhoods) contraceptives don't seem to be readily available, despite laws passed a few years ago to offer free contraceptives at public health centers. The Catholic church recommends that women pay attention to their cycles to avoid unwanted pregnancy. Even if women religiously tracked each day, most of them note that when their men come home drunk, they don't have much of a choice. In addition, a lack of education leads some to reuse condoms and engage in folk methods of contraception (some are rumored to use socks when they can't get condoms).

In more recent news, this week the legislature unanimously passed a law to require sexual education for all students from age five through secondary school. The new law is meant to shore up a 2003 law that allowed for sex ed in schools but did not mandate that the Ministry of Education create a curriculum. Some schools already have a sex education program for their students, but the new curriculum will be created by the Ministry of Education in conjunction with a panel of experts to cover the physiological, psychological, emotional, ethical and social aspects of sex, gender, and sexuality.

In the past, some families have argued that they prefer to educate their children at home about sex. To help sway the representatives of these citizens, the Ministry of Education will create the curriculum, but individual schools will be allowed to "adapt" the material to the sensitivities of their particular community. Some fear that this concession will allow schools to remove parts of the curriculum that are essential to the spirit of the new law.**

All I can say is that I hope the kids in the villas get some of this information before they drop out of school.


*Abortion Sources: Clarín: Los médicos no harán el aborto y la chica violada tendrá a su bebé, Kaiser Network: Argentina Supreme Court Rules Mentally Impaired Rape Survivor Can Undergo Abortion; Case Sparks Abortion-Rights Debate, La Nación: Otro pedido de aborto para una discapacitada.

**Sexual Education Sources: IPS News: EDUCATION-ARGENTINA:
Sex in the Classrooms - By Law, Clarín: En 2007 darán educación sexual en todas las escuelas porteñas, La Nación: Los porteños recibirán educación sexual, and Ya es ley la educación sexual en la Capital.