October 4, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The legislature of the capital city of Argentina has passed a measure that establishes abortion until the ninth month of pregnancy as a “right” in cases of rape, even if no criminal charges have been filed, and without the need of parental consent down to the age of 14 years.
Although the measure protects the right of conscientious objection for individual doctors, it does not do so for medical institutions, which are required to kill the unborn when the conditions are met. Under the measure, such abortions would bypass hospital bioethics committees.
The bill claims to regulate a decision made by the country’s Supreme Court in March. However, it goes well beyond the decision, which merely eliminated penalties for such abortions without declaring them to be a “right.”
Critics are concerned that the lack of accountability in the system could result effectively in abortion on demand, allowing anyone to claim without proof that they were raped in order to secure a legal abortion up to the moment of birth.
The measure, which passed by a single vote on Friday of last week, 30-29, will now pass to the city’s Chief of Government, Mauricio Macri, for his signature. Pro-life groups are campaigning to convince Macri to exercise his veto authority.
“According to the Constitution of the City of Buenos Aires, the Chief of Government can, within 10 working days (until the 12th of October in this case), veto bills passed by the Legislature,” writes Innes Franck of the Center for Bioethics, the Person, and the Family. “We ask Mauricio Macri to exercise this constitutional prerogative, in this case in defense of the lives of many unborn people.”
“He would not only fulfill an unavoidable obligation of justice, but he would also be respecting the ethical and moral convictions of the majority of city voters, and he would send an interesting message to the inhabitants of the other provinces, a majority of whom reject abortion,” Franck added.
The pro-life organization Argentineans Alert, which has created a petition to Macri asking him to veto the legislation, says that 7,500 people have already responded with their electronic signatures.
“We ask for your commitment to send this alert asking Mauricio Macri to veto this aberrant law. We have only 10 days. The unborn children will thank you for it. Furthermore, we must demand that Macri respect the moral convictions of the majority of his voters who are in favor of life,” states the organization on its website.
The Corporation of Catholic Attorneys has also denounced the bill, as well as the Supreme Court ruling on which it is based, for violating international treaties signed by the Argentinean government “which protect life from the moment of conception.” They criticized the legislature of Buenos Aires for capitulating to “the pressure of the decision issued on March 13 by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation,” which depenalized abortion “in violation of clear constitutional norms.”
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To sign: Apellido y Nombre: (Last name and first name), Direccion de email: email address, Enviar: send, Borrar: erase.
Translation of petition:
Chief of Government of the City of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri
I write to you with the purpose of asking you to veto the bill on non-punishable abortion recently passed by the Buenos Aires legislature.
My request is based on the following:
1 – All abortion is homicide.
2 – The bill permits a child of 14 years of age to request an abortion without the consent of her parents.
3 – It does not require the filing of charges for rape.
4 – Hospital bioethical committees are prohibited from intervening.
For all of these reasons, this bill really legalizes abortion on demand, which constitutes an aberration that will cause great abuses that will ultimately result in the deaths of thousands of unborn children in this City.
With nothing further to write, I greet you very attentively,
[Signature]