Their rallying cry: "Ni Una Muerta Más Por Aborto Clandestino En Argentina!" — "No more women dead from back-alley abortions in Argentina!"

For the first time in history, this dream has a chance of becoming a reality.

Less than two weeks before the rally, a special commission empowered by the Ministry of Justice to reform the national penal code presented its recommendations. Although the suggested changes touched on many controversial subjects, including reforms to drug laws and to laws around euthanasia, one of its proposals has sparked an increasingly heated public debate: the proposal to decriminalize abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Abortion in Argentina: Dangerous, Illegal, and Common

Abortion is illegal in Argentina, but it is far from uncommon. According to the Ministry of Health, approximately 500,000 abortions take place in the country every year. This means that about 40 percent of pregnancies end in abortion. Yet, according to current penal code, almost every one of these half a million abortions is criminal and punishable by up to four years in jail for both the woman and the abortion provider.

Women who need to terminate a pregnancy in Argentina must seek out clandestine abortions. Consequently, abortion is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the country, causing almost a third of all maternal deaths.

"Illegal Abortion Affects Everyone, But It Kills Mainly the Poor"

Illegal abortions are frequently dangerous, performed by unlicensed practitioners in unsanitary conditions, or by women themselves with knitting needles, rubber tubes, or medications. But, as Maria Jose Lubertino, a former congresswoman and current professor of human rights law at the University of Buenos Aires, said, "Illegal abortion affects everyone, but it kills mainly the poor." Lubertino, who is also one of the organizers of the Campaign for Safe, Legal, and Free Abortion, points out that "the doctors who work with the poorest people in the country," those who see the dreadful consequences of unsafe abortion firsthand, "are those who are most in favor of [legal] abortion."

Lubertino says that illegal abortion can be relatively safe when performed by someone with medical training, but that these safer procedures can cost upwards of 1,500 pesos (about $500 U.S. dollars). This fee puts it well out of reach of many women in Argentina, where nearly 40 percent of the population lives in poverty. In February, the newspaper Clarín reported that nearly six million people — 15 percent of the population — live on an average of 65 pesos (about $23 U.S. dollars) per month.

Decisions Denied: Women's Access to Contraceptives and Abortion in Argentina, a 2005 Human Rights Watch Report, comes to a similar conclusion: "The quality and therefore the health consequences of illegal abortions seemed to depend on the economic standing of the women." And the U.N. Human Rights Committee has also registered its concern "over discriminatory aspects of the laws and policies in force [in Argentina], which result in disproportionate resort to illegal, unsafe abortions by poor and rural women."

Statistics seem to bear this out. The maternal mortality rate in Formosa, the poorest province in Argentina, is more than 10 times that of Buenos Aires. And although the government has instituted a program to provide needy women with free contraceptives and reproductive health care, access to services and quality care remains limited in many areas of the country.

Decriminalizing Abortion: A (Small) Step Toward Equality

Jorge Rizzo, president of the Public Association of Lawyers of Buenos Aires, puts it succinctly: "Abortion is legal today for those who have the money."

The Ministry of Justice Commission charged with reevaluating the penal code had this in mind when it submitted its proposal to reform the abortion laws. The commission, made up of respected jurists and scholars from across the country, spent more than a year debating the changes. Though the reforms do not legalize all abortions, they would be an important step that could help save the health and lives of many women every year.

The reforms are limited because Article 93 of the proposed revised code states that "the woman is not punishable when the abortion occurs with the consent of the woman within the first three months of pregnancy, as long as the circumstances make it excusable." The final clause, "as long as the circumstances make it excusable," takes much of the force from the proposed reform.

As ambiguous and limited as these reforms may be, they still go too far for many opponents of reproductive freedoms. The Catholic Church has a strong political presence in Argentina and condemned the proposed changes almost as soon as they were announced. Shortly afterwards, President Nestor Kirchner distanced himself and his administration from the reforms.

Poised to Change

Lubertino believes that the debate on abortion reform signals that the moment is ripe for greater change. A recent Gallup poll suggests that the majority of Argentines are in favor of loosening restrictions on abortion. Despite Kirchner's reluctance to promote abortion rights, the tide is turning even at the highest levels of government. Minister of Health Ginés Gonzalez García openly supports abortion rights and has said that women's health would probably improve if abortion were legalized. And in 2004, Carmen Argibay, who is openly in favor of decriminalizing abortion, was confirmed to the country's Supreme Court.

"We're going in the right direction," Lubertino says, "but we need all the support we can get — national and international."

Nadia Berenstein is a writer and visual artist living in Buenos Aires.

© 2006 Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Published: 06.21.06