Scandal over Abortion Legislation Proposals in Argentina

By Stefano Gennarini, J.D. | November 16, 2011

Abortion is still a crime in Argentina. Abortion advocates have failed to bring draft legislation to de-penalize abortion before this session of the Argentinian legislature amidst a scandal in the committee that was preparing the proposal.

Juan Carlos Vega, the head of the criminal law committee of the Argentinian Legislature, sought a committee vote two weeks ago on draft legislation to de-criminalize abortion. This session of the legislature would have discussed a proposal only if a majority had been reached within the committee.

Mr. Vega reportedly lied twice while trying to get a majority vote. He lied about having thorough hearings on the proposals before a vote, and he lied after he failed to secure the majority needed with only five votes. In fact he had failed to reach a quorum for a vote in the first place.
He nevertheless insisted that a majority had been reached. The votes he did secure included those of a representative who was not part of the committee, and of a committee member who was not present because he is paralyzed.

Maria de los Angeles Mainardi, a candidate to Argentina’s legislature has claimed that Juan Carlos Vega has been pushing hard for this measure in order to secure a position with an international human rights body once his term in the legislature is up (min 1:10 of the video).

It took 24hrs before Mr. Vega recognized that the proposal had failed. He scheduled another vote this week, but has since called off the initiative. Any further proposals to legalize abortion will have to wait until next year’s legislative session. Currently Argentina’s laws only allows abortion in cases of rape or where the life of the mother is in danger. In addition, they provide very strong conscience protection for doctors, who are never required to perform abortions even in these cases.

The president of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner did not support the initiative, even though she supported the same sex marriage law of 2010. This is probably why it failed. Hopefully she will not support similar proposals in the next session of the legislature.

Most countries in Latin America criminalize abortion. Argentina, despite its recent economic woes is a large and influential country in Latin America. What happens with abortion in Argentina will be significant in the whole region.

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