Social Debate
Argentina has a robust network of women's organizations whose demands include public access to abortion and contraception, such as the Women's Informative Network of Argentina (RIMA) and Catholic Women for the Right to Choose (Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir). The National Women's Meeting, held annually in different cities, gathers these and other feminist and pro-choice groups. The 20th Women's Meeting, held in October 2005 in Mar del Plata, included a 30,000-people demonstration asking for unrestricted abortion.
The opposition to abortion is centered on two fronts: the religious one, led by the Catholic Church, and voiced by the ecclesiastical hierarchy and a number of civil organizations, which consider abortion the murder of an innocent person; and the legal one, represented by those who understand that abortion is forbidden by the Constitution (which must override the Penal Code).
A survey conducted in early 2005, commissioned by the Argentine branch of the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation, showed that 76% respondents were in favour of legalizing abortion for cases of rape (that is, regardless of the mental capacity of the woman), and that many also wanted abortion legalized when the fetus suffers from a deformity that will make it impossible for it to survive outside the womb. A December 2003 Graciela Romer y Asociados survey found that 30% of Argentines thought that abortion should be allowed "regardless of situation", 47% that it should be allowed "under some circumstances", and 23% that it should not be allowed "regardless of situation".
In a more recent survery conducted in September 2011, nonprofit organization Catholics for Choice found that 45% of Argentineans are in favor of abortion for any reason in the first twelve weeks. This same poll conducted in September 2011 also suggests that most Argentineans favor abortion being legal when a woman’s health or life is at risk (81%), when the pregnancy is a result of rape (80%) or the fetus has severe abnormalities (68%).
It is a common belief in Argentina that, the higher the economic status of the pregnant woman, the easier it is for her to get a safe abortion, while poorer women often cannot afford a clandestine procedure under sanitary conditions or post-abortion care.
Read more about this topic: Abortion In Argentina
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