“Nothing good can come when society chooses death as a solution”
By Dave Andrusko
In June when we last updated the situation in Argentina, following a 23 hour debate, the Chamber of Deputies had just voted 129-125 to legalize abortion on demand for the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
As the Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues explained, “Abortion is currently allowed in case of rape or when the life or health of the woman is at risk.
Late term abortion would be allowed if a pregnancy presents a risk to a woman’s “physical, psychological or social health,” broadly defined categories that pro-lifers fear will result in abortion on demand until birth. The bill—”Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy”– will advance to the Senate where it is expected to encounter greater opposition.
The observation was prophetic. CBN News reported today
Hundreds of doctors in Argentina have staged anti-abortion protests as a bill to legalize it heads to that country’s Senate next week.
They are vowing not to take human lives, no matter what it costs them, waving signs with powerful messages like: “I’m a doctor, not a murderer.”
Officials at about 300 private hospitals and medical facilities have denounced the legislation which has already been passed by the lower house of the Argentine National Congress.
“Doctors can’t work under the threat of prison time,” said Maria de los Angeles Carmona, head of gynecology at the state-run Eva Peron Hospital.
She was referring to concerns that there are enough confusing aspects in the proposed law that even if individual doctors were allowed to “opt out,” the lack of clarity “could make them vulnerable to prosecution and persecution for their beliefs,” Benjamin Gill reported. “Private hospitals object because the law would not allow them to opt out of performing abortions.”
Argentina’s Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Societies warned that doctors who refuse to perform abortions on moral grounds might suffer professional discrimination. “In fact, objectors would have to register and they’re worried that could be used to ‘blacklist’ them at hospitals,” CBN News reported.
“How far are we willing to go to? Jail,” Ernesto Beruti, chief of obstetrics at the Austral University Hospital told Gill. “Even if the law is passed, I’m not going to eliminate the life of a human being. The most important right is the right to live.”
As we reported in June, the Argentinian Academy of Medicine fiercely opposes the ”Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy” bill. The Academy issued a statement that human life begins at conception and “to destroy a human embryo means impeding the birth of a human being,” Gill reported.
“Nothing good can come when society chooses death as a solution,” the academy said.
As Micaiah Bilger wrote, “If the legislation is approved, Argentina will be the first nation to legalize abortion since a historic vote in Ireland to overturn its Eighth Amendment, which provided legal protections for unborn children. The homeland of Pope Francis would be one of the only nations in South America with legalized abortion on demand.”