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Argentine Babies Killed for Rape Exception

“We are heading for a neo-communist state in this country,” Says Pro-Life Activist

By Hilary White and John-Henry Westen
 
BUENOS AIRES, August 25, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Argentina, an overwhelmingly pro-life and Catholic country, is succeeding in loosening abortion restrictions through the so-called “rape exception,” despite constitutional protections for life.
 
According to local news reports, the two mentally challenged women, 19 and 25, around whom recent court battles have revolved, have had their children aborted in secret late Wednesday night. Under Argentine law, only two exceptions exist to allow abortion: the case of a mentally disabled woman who has been raped, and when there is risk to the life of the mother.
 
The provincial high courts had approved the abortions after pressure from international feminist groups had successfully sued in other countries to allow a loosening of abortion restrictions for cases of rape.
 
The Catholic Church of Argentina has promised to stage demonstrations against the action and the court decisions this weekend saying it was not “outdated or fundamentalist” for defending the sanctity of human life.
 
A statement from the bishops, entitled “A matter of life and death” read, “A debate has resurfaced in the last few days about the decriminalization of abortion because of the very painful situation affecting the life of a disabled woman and an innocent being yet to be born. The tragedy of this situation cannot make us forget that we may not murder an innocent being.”
 
Argentines can expect more of the same, says one local activist, who says the recently elected socialist government is going the same way as Spain in introducing legislation to consolidate its power base.
 
Ana Randle a pro-life activist in Argentina spoke to LifeSiteNews.com saying the situation is “a nightmare.” “They are approving any type of legislation so that they can have absolute power. They have made it so there is full authority for executive power to have control of budget so there is no approval necessary {to pass laws} by Congress etc.”
 
The new government, that leans hard to the left, Randle says, is meticulously dismantling legal protections for human life put in place by the previous government.
 
 “We are heading for a neo-communist state in this country,” Randle said.
 
In the last year, since the government’s election, increasing numbers of news stories have been coming forward about Argentinean threats to life. Argentine President Nestor Kirchner appointed a self-described “militant atheist” to the Supreme Court who supports legalization of abortion.
 
Despite the fact that the Argentine Constitution recognizes the humanity of the unborn child "from the moment of conception," in May this year, a proposal to legalize first trimester abortions was put forward as part of an ongoing revision of the Argentine penal code.
 
The President’s wife, Christina Fernandez, Randle says, is an “ultra feminist” who wants to see abortion legalized. Randle says that she and other pro-life Argentineans fear the President will try to put Fernandez into power. Fernandez began her political involvement in the Tendencia Revolucionaria, a Marxist faction of the centre left Justicialist Party.
 
President Nestor Kirchner’s early political training came as a member of the Young Peronists, whose left-wing radicalism was strongly opposed by the then ruling military dictatorship.
 
Fears of Kircher establishing a neo-communist state grew in July this year, when Kircher made a trip to Venezuela. Kircher participated in a military parade alongside Marxist ruler of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez. On that occasion Mr Chávez called for a defensive military pact between the armies of the region with a common doctrine and organization.
 
Read previous LifeSitenews.com coverage:
Argentina Judge Stops Abortion for Mentally Disabled Woman
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06082205.html
 
Argentina University Offers to “Adopt” Baby Threatened with Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06080102.html

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