BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) – Argentina’s groundbreaking abortion law goes into effect on Sunday under the watchful eye of women’s groups and government officials, who hope to ensure full implementation despite opposition from some conservative and ecclesiastical groups.
Argentina became the largest country in Latin America to legalize elective abortion after the Senate passed a law on December 30 that guarantees the procedure until the 14th week of pregnancy and beyond in cases of rape or when a woman’s health is at risk .
The vote was hailed as a triumph for the feminist movement in the South American country that could pave the way for similar actions in the socially conservative, highly Roman Catholic region.
But Pope Francis had appealed the vote at the last minute, and Church leaders have criticized the decision. Supporters of the law say they expect lawsuits from anti-abortion groups in Argentina’s conservative provinces and some private health clinics are refusing to carry out the procedure.
“We still have a huge task ahead of us,” said Argentina’s Minister of Women, Gender and Diversity, Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, who has acknowledged that there will be obstacles to full implementation of the law across the country.
Gómez Alcorta said a telephone line will be set up “for those who do not have access to abortion to communicate.”
Argentina’s Catholic Church has rejected the law and conservative groups of doctors and lawyers have pushed for resistance. Doctors and health professionals can claim conscientious objection to abortions, but cannot rely on the right if a pregnant woman’s life or health is at risk.
A statement signed by the Consortium of Catholic Doctors, the Catholic Lawyers Corporation, and other groups called on doctors and lawyers to “with nobility, fortitude, and courage to resist the standard that legalizes the heinous crime of abortion.”
The anti-abortion group Unidad Provida also urged doctors, nurses, and technicians to fight for their “freedom of conscience” and promised to “accompany them in whatever trials are necessary.”
By law, private health centers that do not have doctors willing to perform an abortion must refer women seeking an abortion to clinics that do. Any government official or health authority who falsely postpones an abortion will be punished with imprisonment from three months to one year.
The National Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe and Free Abortion, an umbrella group for organizations that fought for legal abortion for years, often wearing green scarves in protests, pledged to “continue to monitor compliance with the law.”
“We rely on the feminist networks we have built over the decades,” said Laura Salomé, one of the movement’s members.
A previous abortion law was voted down by a small margin by Argentine lawmakers in 2018. But in the December vote, it was backed by the center-left government, spurred by the so-called “piba” revolution, from the Argentinean slang for “girls,” and polls showing opposition had softened.
Supporters of the law expect backlash in Argentina’s conservative provinces. In the northern province of Salta, a federal judge this week dismissed a measure filed by a former legislature calling for a suspension of the law because the legislature had exceeded its powers. Opponents of abortion cite international treaties signed by Argentina that promise to protect life from conception.
Gómez Alcorta said the criminal charges currently pending against more than 1,500 women and doctors who performed abortions should be dropped. She said the number of women and doctors detained “was not that great,” but gave no number.
“The Ministry of Women will exercise its leadership” to end these matters, she said.
Tamara Grinberg, 32, who had a clandestine abortion in 2012, celebrated that from now on, “a girl can go to a hospital and say ‘I want an abortion’.”
She said that when she had her abortion, very few people helped her. “Nowadays there are many more support networks … and the decision is respected. When I did, no one respected my decision. “
Although abortion is already permitted in some other parts of Latin America – such as Uruguay, Cuba and Mexico City – its legalization in Argentina is expected to resonate across the region, where dangerous clandestine procedures remain the norm for half a century. after a woman had the right to choose was guaranteed in the US.
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AP journalists Víctor Caivano and Yésica Brumec contributed to this report.