Argentina: Human Rights Watch criticises abortion provision

A report by the New York-based organisation claims that 40 percent of Argentine pregnancies end in abortion, most of which are carried out clandestinely and are the leading cause of maternal mortality.

Argentina’s rate of abortion, which is outlawed in most circumstances, is twice the regional average due to a reproductive health-care system that is ‘negligent’ and ‘abusive’, Human Rights Watch claimed on 10 August.

Abortion is only legal in specific circumstances in Argentina, for example if the pregnancy is the result of a rape or poses a mental or physical risk. Yet very few such abortions are actually carried out, either because doctors refuse to provide them or because the women are forced to go to court to make their case, the report found.

Abortion is an almost taboo issue in Argentina, a predominantly Roman Catholic country that was one of the last Latin American nations to abandon population growth as a policy, Reuters reports.

‘What you have in Argentina is a much longer history of the government ignoring the problem of abortion than in the rest of the region,’ said Marianne Mollmann, author of the Human Rights Watch report Illusions of Care: Lack of Accountability for Reproductive Rights in Argentina. ‘There has generally been progress in the rest of the region ... but nothing has changed here in the past five years.’

The report found women had trouble buying contraception, were treated with general suspicion by doctors and subjected to illegal demands for their spouse’s permission during medical care.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has made human rights issues a cornerstone of her presidency and last month Argentina legalised gay marriage, making it the first country in Latin America to do so, Reuters reports. But Human Rights Watch said women’s ability to exercise their reproductive rights has not improved during Fernandez’s term, which began in 2007. The report’s authors noted that former Health Minister Graciela Ocana declared publicly that abortion was a matter of criminal law and not under her purview. Fernandez has said she is against legalising abortion.

‘The Argentine government’s actions are erratic or absent. The situation could get worse if this problem is not more vigorously tackled,’ said Jose Miguel Vivanco, director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas Division.

Argentina system said to lead to high abortion rate. Reuters, 10 August 2010

Illusions of Care: Lack of Accountability for Reproductive Rights in Argentina. Human Rights Watch, 10 August 2010