Argentina Supreme Court Rules Mentally Impaired Rape Survivor Can Undergo Abortion; Case Sparks Abortion-Rights Debate

The Supreme Court of Argentina's Buenos Aires province on Monday ruled 6-3 that a mentally impaired rape survivor could undergo an abortion, overturning two lower court rulings, EFE News reports (EFE News, 8/1). Argentina law bans abortion except in cases in which a "demented" woman is raped or when the woman's life is at risk, Reuters AlertNet reports (Burke, Reuters AlertNet, 8/1). The 19-year-old woman last month sought an abortion after being raped, but a family-court judge issued an injunction on the procedure, which was upheld by a civil court in La Plata, Argentina (EFE News, 8/1). According to Reuters AlertNet, the lower courts ruled the abortion would be illegal under an Argentine constitutional provision protecting children's rights. However, the Buenos Aires provincial court ruled that the country's abortion ban exceptions do not violate the constitutional provision and overturned the injunction (Reuters AlertNet, 8/1). Carmen Argibay, a justice on the provincial court, said, "Evidently, religion had a lot to do with" the La Plata judge's ruling "because the judge said that her religious convictions did not permit her to approve such an operation. The judge must be absolutely impartial; he or she cannot be influenced by anything" (EFE News, 8/1). The Corporation of Catholic Lawyers said it is considering an appeal of the ruling to Argentina's Supreme Court. "This is a terrible precedent," Alberto Solanet, president of the group, said, adding, "No one has the right to decide the fate of an innocent person, and the province's supreme court has done it. They have authorized the murder of a child in gestation" (Reuters, 8/1). According to EFE News, the ruling sparked a debate over abortion rights in Argentina. Health Minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia and some lawmakers and women's rights groups have said they support decriminalizing abortion in the country (EFE News, 8/1). According to the Ministerio de Salud, between 500,000 and 700,000 illegal abortions are preformed annually in the country (Reuters, 8/1).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.