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ARGENTINE SUPREME COURT ALLOWS INDUCTION OF LABOUR FOR ANCEPHALY

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 12 2001 (LSN.ca) - In a troubling decision the Supreme Court of Argentina ruled yesterday approving a seven-month pregnant woman's request to have her child induced early, risking death of the child, since the baby was diagnosed with ancephaly - a condition where the baby has an underdeveloped brain. In Argentina where the unborn's right to life is enshrined in the constitution, the decision was hailed by feminists. The news agency EFE reports that the mother Silvia Tanus, 35, has been in the courts for two months with the initial two rulings rejecting induction and then the Buenos Aires Superior Court allowing it. The case was finally appealed to the Supreme Court by disabled rights activist Roberto Cabiche who said it was an "infringement on the unborn child's right to life."

The Supreme Court Justices ruled 5-3 to allow the induction with the dissenting judges noting that the decision was wrong since the constitution forbade interrupting pregnancy. The majority decision was justified by Supreme Court vice president Eduardo Moline O'Connor who said the verdict "ratifies the right to life from the moment of conception and clarifies that this is not an abortion." The justices also recommended that the doctors, "do everything possible to science to preserve the life of the baby." O'Connor explained that the decision to allow the induction was based on the psychological suffering of the mother, an argument pushed by Tanus' lawyer Perla Pregoshin.

While some details about the decision are forthcoming, experts on the region informed LifeSite that the ruling is troubling since, although not automatically causing the death of a viable in utero baby, early induction surely threatens the life of the baby. Moreover since the diagnosis of ancephaly can never be proven 100% accurate, the decision to induce labour early and thus endanger the life of the child is based on the psychological discomfort of the mother who has been informed she is carrying a baby who will not survive very long after birth.

See the EFE coverage at:
http://library.northernlight.com/FC20010111510000227.html?cb=0&dx=1006&sc=0#doc

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