The new president of Argentina announced plans Sunday to legalize abortions in his South American country.
Most countries on the continent protect unborn babies from abortion, but President Alberto Fernández wants Argentina to change that.
During his first congressional address, Fernández said he plans to introduce a bill to legalize abortion within the next 10 days, Reuters reports.
“… I will present a bill for voluntary termination of pregnancy that legalizes abortion at the start of pregnancy and allows women to access the health system when they make the decision to abort,” Fernández said.
He claimed the legislation will help fight poverty and protect women from dangerous back alley and self-induced abortions, Buenos Aires Times reports. One estimate by the Health Ministry claims up to half a million illegal abortions are done each year in the country, though that estimate seems high, according to the report.
“Abortion happens, it’s a fact,” Fernández continued, according to The Independent. “A state should protect citizens in general and women in particular. And in the 21st Century, every society needs to respect the individual choice of its members to decide freely about their bodies.”
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He did not provide specific information about his proposal. Currently, abortions are illegal in Argentina except in cases involving rape or threats to the mother’s health.
A similar proposal to legalize the killing of unborn babies failed in 2018 because of strong public opposition, including from the former president.
But pro-abortion groups, backed by some of the richest men in the world, continue to put intense pressure on countries to legalize abortion on demand.
Amnesty International Argentina praised Fernández, claiming the legalized killing of unborn babies in abortions is a “human right.”
“Legalizing abortion would be a truly historic step for our country, and women would be able to look forward to a future where their rights are respected and they are treated with compassion,” the pro-abortion group claimed.
But abortion does not give human rights. It destroys them. Unborn babies are human beings who also deserve compassion and protection under the law.
Legalizing abortion does not help women either. Pro-abortion groups often overestimate the number of illegal and unsafe abortions that occur in countries across the world.
Growing research also indicates that access to basic health care, not abortion, is what really helps improve women’s lives. For example, in 2018, Michelle Oberman, a Santa Clara University law professor, told the Atlantic that she was surprised when she began doing research on abortion in El Salvador. Abortions are illegal there, and she said she expected to find hospitals full of women dying from botched abortions, but she did not. According to Oberman’s research, better medical care, along with an increased availability of abortion drugs online, are leading to fewer maternal abortion deaths.
A recent Washington Post fact check also found what pro-life advocates have been saying for years: that, in the United States, few women died from abortions in the decade prior to Roe v. Wade, and a rise in the use of antibiotics appears to be the biggest factor in the drop in maternal deaths, not legalized abortions.
True compassion involves providing support for both the woman and her child, not killing one for the supposed benefit of the other.
