Argentine abortion rate climbs

[ghost]

Part of the mystery here is the the astonishingly high numbers for illegal abortions when contricaption methods are so very easily available and so well publicised in Argentina.
And still these girls opt for unprotected sex in the face of certain pregnancy and or STDs. And then choose unsanctioned abortion over any long term commitment, be it parenthood or marriage or both.
This, I think, says there is very little faith in the future combined with great fear of becomming a single parent and thus forgoing any chance of future marriage. These are reasonable fears in an uncertain world. Especially when the male counterparts are still living with mommy until age 35 and fear all forms of commitment.
In any case I think a woman should have a choice as to her options and that choice should not have to include some backroom coat hanger jockey or the stigma of public stoning.
The issue of legalized abortion has not been ignored by the current and some past administrations in AR. However, it is a major hot potato topic and brings the church and the fundamentalist yahoos screaching out of their holes with all forms of retribution threats. Also the topic of sex education and birth control evokes the same response. But the dual issues have come before congress and seem to share some top of mind awareness among more progressive lawmakers.
The following is a lift from WIKI, it's a tad long , but it demonstrates history and awareness...........
At the beginning of 2005, the minister of Health, Ginés González García, made public his support for the legalization of abortion, and Kirchner's silence on the matter angered the Church. The military vicar Antonio Baseotto expressed his disgust by paraphrasing Mark 9:42 ("And whosoever shall cause one of these little ones that believe on me to stumble, it were better for him if a great millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea") and suggesting that González García should be given that treatment. Baseotto was heavily criticized because this "punishment" echoes the infamous vuelos de la muerte ("flights of death") whereby prisoners of the last military regime were thrown into the Atlantic from planes. The conflict escalated and caused the Argentine government to relieve Baseotto from his job as the head of the military chaplains. This prompted accusations on the part of Catholic observers (also fueled by right-wing opposition leaders and media) that such actions threatened religious freedom. The government pointed out that Baseotto is still a bishop and may celebrate Mass and perform pastoral duties wherever he chooses — he will simply not be on the payroll of the state.
President Kirchner was also criticized for not attending the funeral of Pope John Paul II (he did attend the inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI), which took place when the above conflict was still in the spotlight of the media. On the celebration of the May Revolution on 2005-05-25, Kirchner chose not to attend the Buenos Aires Te Deum but the one celebrated in the Cathedral of Santiago del Estero, where other public celebrations of the day were also moved. This absence of the President did not go unnoticed (it was the first such occasion in 175 years), but the government denied a political intention behind it, except the need to "federalize" the celebration.
In October 2005 conflict erupted again as the Argentine Chamber of Deputies took steps to pass a Sex Education Law that would encompass the whole school system (public and private, including confessional schools), forcing educational establishments to teach students about gender roles and contraception, among other topics. The Archbishop of La Plata, Héctor Aguer, accused the state of "promoting sexual corruption" and "inciting fornication, lust and promiscuity", denouncing that 11- and 12-year old students in a school already implementing a sex education curriculum had received condoms and contraceptive pills. Upon being termed a "fanatic" by th former Minister González García, Aguer replied that the Minister was "intolerant and a fundamentalist" with regards to his views. The Permanent Secretariat for the Family, an organ of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, passed a declaration asking the representatives of the people not to approve sex education law projects "already rejected by the Argentinians". Soon afterwards, on 6 November, the Archbishop of Resistencia, Carmelo Giaquinta, entered the conflict by warning that the state would "lose its reason for existence" if it promoted such laws in the fields of health and education, and announced that he would "encourage Christians to civil disobedience" in that case.
In 2010 Argentina became the third Catholic country to legalize same-sex marriage despite heavy criticism and protests that turned violent between supporters of the tradition Church and advocates of homosexual rights

 

[mini]

And still these girls opt for unprotected sex in the face of certain pregnancy and or STDs. And then choose unsanctioned abortion over any long term commitment, be it parenthood or marriage or both.

They do it alone, do they?

 

[cabrera]

They do it alone, do they?

And you are the spokewoman for this topic alone?

 

[citygirl]

Since abortion is illegal here, I'm curious how they obtained the figures on the number/percentage of abortions?

Sex education would go a long way - just making pills or condoms available doesn't do a whole lot unless you teach younger girls AND boys why they should be using them. Takes two to tango if you will.

And I do believe that if a woman carries a child to term, the law is pretty strict here on the father financially supporting the child.

 

[mini]

And you are the spokewoman for this topic alone?

What are you talking about?

 

[laureltp]

citygirl I was wondering the same thing myself, how did they come up with the statistics? From my experience it's hard to get an accurate statistic on things here. The government says one thing, the newspaper poll says another thing, the people have another story.....

In any case it could never be a bad thing to offer more sex education to these boys and girls. They need to understand the risks they take when they make certain choices.

 

[KatharineAnn]

That´s a good point about where they got the statistics from. It´s always hard to get hard numbers for an illegal activity that is not done in the open...clearly it is an estimate, based on some indices they have that suggest that number.

I agree with those who say that more sex education and the availability of FREE birth control are crucial. Sex education is almost non-existant from what I´ve heard (sadly, from my experience few Argentines really realize how important it is to use a condom, that you CAN get STDS from anal/oral sex, even if you´re not a ´maricon´, and that having sex with prostitutes is still risky even IF you use protection...I could go on!)

And anticonceptives, although cheap, are probably not cheap enough for the lowest income families in Argentina. Even 20 pesos for birth control pills is probably more than a very low income family is able/willing to spend. Condoms, on the other hand, which are the only thing that can safely prevent the spread of STDS, are so FRIGGIN expensive. Last I bought them I think I spent some 20 pesos for a 12 pack. I´m sorry, that´s really damn expensive, and some people really cannot or WILL NOT spend that much.

One other thing that comes to mind to explain why the rate is double that in the US, for example. In the US kids start having sex probably at the age of 15/16 on average, perhaps? Maybe a bit older, not sure. But I bet this onset age is roughly the same in Argentina, and of course lower in the low-income populations, as it probably is in the US as well.

However, the age at which it is socially acceptable to begin having children in the US is in your early 20s - perhaps older is considered better, but I have a lot of High School schoolmates who started in their early 20s and got married in their early 20s and so on so forth. That´s okay. While here in Arg it´s really not acceptable/feasible until at LEAST your late 20s, often even later. Getting married and having kids before 30 is almost an unreality nowadays. My boyfriend´s friends are all 26/27, and only ONE has a kid. One of like 20.

If you do the math, there are a lot more sexually active childbearing years that are not acceptable years to actually have CHILDREN in Arg than in the US. If you live with your mom until you are 28, you will not even think about starting a family until at LEAST then. So that´s an additional at least 5-10 years that they might be more likely to abort, whereas the American counterpart may say ´well, it wasn´t when I would have liked to start my family, but that´s okay, let´s make the best of it´.

I think it´s also an economic reality as well that many Americans in their early 20s could handle the burden of a child, even though it´s not ideal, whereas most Argentine girls in their early 20s could not - it would be a burden placed on her parents, or worse, a burden that NOBODY could carry!