Argentina Legalizes Abortion, a Milestone in a Conservative Region

The Senate vote on Wednesday was a major victory for Latin America’s growing feminist movement, and its ripple effects are likely to be widespread.

By Daniel Politi and Ernesto Londoño

Dec. 30, 2020

BUENOS AIRES — Argentina on Wednesday became the largest nation in Latin
America to legalize abortion, a landmark vote in a conservative region and a
victory for a grass-roots movement that turned years of rallies into political
power.

The high-stakes vote in the Senate gripped the nation into the early morning,
and the measure’s approval — by a wider-than-expected tally of 38 to 29, with
one abstention — came after 12 hours of often dramatic debate, exposing the
tensions between the long-dominant Roman Catholic Church, whose influence is
waning, and a growing feminist movement.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/30/world/americas/argentina-legalizes-abortion.html

‘We did it, sisters’: Argentina Senate votes to legalize abortion

DECEMBER 29, 2020
By Nicolás Misculin

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Argentina’s Senate voted on Wednesday to legalize abortion, a first for a big country in Latin America and a triumph for women’s rights campaigners achieved over the visceral objection of the Catholic Church.

Abortion is extremely rare in a region where the Church has held cultural and political sway for centuries. Previously, it was allowed on demand only in Communist Cuba, tiny Uruguay and parts of Mexico.

Continued; https://www.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-abortion/argentine-congress-grants-final-approval-to-landmark-abortion-bill-idUSKBN2940LG

29.12.2020

Argentina to become largest country in Latin America to legalize elective abortion

By Ruby Mellen and Ana Vanessa Herrero
Dec. 29, 2020

Argentine lawmakers voted early Wednesday to legalize elective abortion, a key step in making the predominantly Roman Catholic country the largest in Latin America to allow the procedure.

The legislation championed by President Alberto Fernández was approved by Argentina’s House of Deputies earlier this month. Fernández is now expected to sign it.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/argentina-abortion-legal-fernandez-senate-vote/2020/12/28/4a6d77d4-492a-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html

Argentina’s Senate to vote on historic bill to legalize abortion

Kara Fox, CNN
Published Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Argentina could make history on Tuesday, as its Senate votes on a bill to legalize abortion.

The procedure has long been a divisive issue in the Catholic-majority country, with the impending vote galvanizing activists on both sides of the debate.

Campaigners for abortion rights and anti-abortion protesters have both organized demonstrations in front of the Palace of the Argentine National Congress in Buenos Aires where the vote will take place.

Continued: https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/argentina-s-senate-to-vote-on-historic-bill-to-legalize-abortion-1.5247267

Vatican: OK to get virus vaccines using abortion cell lines

Frances D'Emilio, The Associated Press
Published Monday, December 21, 2020

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican on Monday declared that it is "morally acceptable" for Roman Catholics to receive COVID-19 vaccines based on research that used cells derived from aborted fetuses, guidance that came after some churchmen in the United States argued that such products were immoral.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's watchdog office for doctrinal orthodoxy, said it had received several requests for "guidance" during recent months. The doctrinal office pointed out that bishops, Catholic groups and experts have offered "diverse and sometimes conflicting pronouncements" on the matter.

Continued: https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/vatican-ok-to-get-virus-vaccines-using-abortion-cell-lines-1.5239911

21.12.2020

News

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

Argentina’s lower house approves draft legalizing abortion

Almudena Calatrava, The Associated Press
Published Friday, December 11, 2020

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA -- Lawmakers in Argentina's lower house on Friday passed a bill that would legalize elective abortions to the 14th week of pregnancy, a proposal from President Alberto Fernandez in response to long-sought demands from women's rights activists in the homeland of Pope Francis.

The bill still needs approval from the country's Senate in a debate expected before the end of the year.

Continued: https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/argentina-s-lower-house-approves-draft-legalizing-abortion-1.5226817

Pope Francis’ homeland could become the largest country in Latin America to legalize abortion

By Ana Vanessa Herrero and Ruby Mellen
Dec. 10, 2020

Nelly Maldonado was 28 when the baby she and her husband were expecting was diagnosed with anencephaly. The child would be born without major portions of the brain, skull and scalp. Only 1 in 10 such babies survive the first week after birth.

“One of the doctors told me that if God was sending me the baby like that, I had to accept it,” said Maldonado, of Tucuman, Argentina. “I am a Catholic, but I think women have the right to decide over our own body.”

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/argentina-abortion-legal-vote/2020/12/09/dfc01ece-38c0-11eb-9276-ae0ca72729be_story.html

The Catholic Church Has No Moral Argument on Abortions

The Catholic Church Has No Moral Argument on Abortions
After the pope revealed nuns were forced to get abortions while being held as sex slaves, the Church doesn’t seem well positioned to lecture on what women should or should not do with their bodies.

By Jennifer Wright
Feb 11 2019

If you are going to get your information regarding abortion from anyone, perhaps it is best not to get it from an institution that has no women in its higher orders, and is keeping women as sex slaves.

Like, for instance, the Catholic Church. This week Pope Francis admitted there has been clerical abuse of nuns, including sexual slavery. The BBC reports, "He said the Church was attempting to address the problem but said it was 'still going on.'"

Holy shit.
Continued: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a26236433/nuns-sex-slaves-abused-catholic-church-abortion/

ANDORRA – Member of Parliament calls on France to pressure Andorra re abortion

ANDORRA – Member of Parliament calls on France to pressure Andorra re abortion

by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion

Nov 20, 2018

Andorra is one of the last States in Europe, with Malta, San Marino and the Vatican, to prohibit abortion, including in cases of rape, incest, fetal anomaly and risk to the life of the woman. Women from Andorra access abortion either in Spain or France, or by unsafe or clandestine methods.

Laurence Gayte is a Deputy in France for Pyrénées-Orientales, which borders with Andorra, a member of President Macron’s party En Marche, and a member of the delegation on the rights of women in the National Assembly. She asked the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, to clarify the government’s position on the criminalisation of abortion in Andorra. President Macron is a co-prince of the principality. Even giving patients information or the address of a clinic abroad is against the law, Dr Eric Sylvestre Dolsa told Agence France Presse, one of a few Andorran doctors openly backing legalisation, “no matter the reason” for ending the pregnancy.

For 28 September 2018, International Safe Abortion Day, women in Andorra “marched through the streets to demand the decriminalisation of abortion in their country and would like to know the position of France on this question”. The Spanish Bishop of Andorra, Urgell Mgr Joan-Enric Vives, is staunchly opposed to abortion and has threatened to abdicate if abortion is legalised, reported Elisa Muxella, head of Andorra’s Human Rights Institute. “The government is hiding behind this excuse, saying it would put our institutions in peril.”

The Vatican is also putting pressure on Andorra to stop abortion from being legalised. According to the Andorran press, Pope Francis phoned the head of government, Antoni Martí, to deliver a clear message – threatening to demand the abdication of the co-prince.

SOURCES: FranceBleu, 31 October 2018 ; FranceBleu, 8 November 2018

SEE ALSO: France24, 28 September 2018 ; Le Figaro, by AFP, 31 October 2018

--------------------------------
Source: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/andorra-member-of-parliament-calls-on-france-to-pressure-andorra-re-abortion/

Letters to Pope Francis

FEATURE: Letters to Pope Francis
(three letters at the link, from the International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion, Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir, and Catholics for Choice.)
******************************
TO: His Holiness, Pope Francis
Apostolic Palace
00120 Vatican City
c/o Vatican Press Office
av@pccs.va

14 November 2018

Dear Pope Francis,

We are writing to express our disappointment at two recent pronouncements you made related to abortion, which seemed to contradict statements you had made earlier in your Papacy.

After you became Pope, you made two important statements in relation to women and abortion. First, you said that the Church should stop its obsession with the subject of abortion, and spend more time on its primary roles. We found that very hopeful because we think abortion is a public health and human rights issue, not a religious one, and we hoped your statement was an expression of understanding of the reality of women’s lives. We knew that you would not reverse the formal position the Church has taken since the mid-19th century, but we read your statement as a possibility that you might ever so slowly take the Church in a different direction.

Continued: https://mailchi.mp/safeabortionwomensright/feature-letters-to-pope-francis-14-november-2018?e=372dd34034