Mariana Iglesias
03/01/2020 - 15:16
- Clarín.com
- Society
Alberto Fernández was applauded in several passages of his speech of almost an hour and a half. But the ovation came when he announced that in ten days he will present a project for the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy. Then legislators and legislators stood in an enclosure that had many of its benches with the green scarves of the National Campaign for Safe and Free Legal Abortion. Outside, in the street, many women cried with emotion.
The president had been reading his speech for an hour when he reached one of the most anticipated moments: abortion. It was known that he was going to present his own project that has been written behind closed doors and in silence. Its scope is not yet known . We will have to wait for the remaining ten days to enter the Congress. But some of his words gave hope to the feminist movements that have been claiming this right for years. Fernandez spoke of "freely disposing of bodies," a concept that goes beyond punitive or not. He talked about autonomy and decision. Hence the ovation.
"The situation of pregnant women in Argentina presents diverse aspects. Different are the challenges faced by women who wish to have their child from those who assume those who decide to terminate the pregnancy. A caring State must accompany all women so that these processes are developed by fully accessing the health system, "Fernández began at one o'clock.
Alberto Fernández greets at the opening of the legislative sessions of the Congress. AP Photo / Marcos Brindicci)
"The current legislation is not effective. Since 1921 Argentina penalizes the voluntary termination of pregnancy in most situations. One hundred years later, jurisprudence gives an account of how ineffective the rule is from a preventive criterion . It is seen that there are many women who do not feel condemned by the penalty provided for abortion and who turn to him to interrupt their pregnancies, "he continued.
"The existence of the criminal threat has not only been inefficient proving that the social evolution goes beyond the same norm. It has also condemned many women, generally of limited resources, to resort to abortive practices in the absolute secrecy, putting risk your health and sometimes your life itself Everyone knows what I'm talking about. Abortion happens. It's a fact. And it's just that hypocrisy that sometimes catches us, that makes us fall into a debate like this . " The president made it clear that abortion should not be a crime, should not be penalized.
Alberto Fernandez Opening of ordinary sessions at the National Congress. Women who listen to it from the street celebrate the announcement of a free and safe legal abortion project. Photo Maxi Failla -
"In the 21st century every society needs to respect the individual decision of its members to freely dispose of their bodies ." Fernandez talks about freedom. "I will present a Bill of Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy that legalizes abortion in the initial time of pregnancy and allows women to access the health system when they make the decision to abort." And underlines it: deciding. Women have the right to decide .
The president added that simultaneously a "comprehensive program of comprehensive sexual education and prevention of unwanted pregnancy" will be launched. And he announced a protection plan for women who do want to continue with pregnancy : "Our purpose is also to reach the women of our country in a situation of social vulnerability at the stage that most needs the presence of the State: during pregnancy, birth , puerperium and first years of aging ".
"Together with the law that will seek to legalize abortion, we will send to the National Congress a bill that establishes the 1000-day Plan, to guarantee the comprehensive care and care of the life and health of the pregnant woman and her sons or daughters in the first years of life. In this way we want to significantly reduce the rates of mortality and malnutrition, protect early ties, neurodevelopment and the health of mothers and children in an integral way, "he announced.
"We are sure that in this way we are extending the rights of women and giving protection to those who need more support at the time of pregnancy," Fernandez concluded before a standing compound and a street of excited faces. Expanding rights is a constant claim of feminisms.
Before closing his speech, he referred to other gender issues. "We will continue with the implementation and effective fulfillment of the Micaela Law for the formation and training of the public sector in matters of gender and gender-based violence, including the training of the President of the Nation and senior authorities of the Executive Power."
Alberto Fernández speaks during the opening of the legislative sessions with Vice President Cristina Fernández (AP Photo / Marcos Brindicci)
"We will launch the National Plan of Action against Violence for reasons of Gender 2020-2021. In that spirit, we will relaunch National Line 144 for the attention, containment and telephone advice to people who go through situations of gender-based violence," he said, and announced another bill "for the ratification of Convention No. 190 on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work. It is a unanimous expression of the international community against gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work ." These announcements were also applauded inside and outside the Congress.
"It is a different March first, long awaited to hear the president announce at the opening of Legislative Sessions in Congress the Executive Project that decriminalizes and legalizes the right to abortion by decision of women. Really exciting the amount of green scarves in the Legislative Assembly and in the fists of the people who are in the street. It is without a doubt a historical moment, "Marta Alanis, a historical reference of the National Campaign for Legal Abortion and Catholics for the Right to Decide, told Clarin .
"For the feminists that we have been fighting for 15 years in the National Campaign for the right to legal, safe and free abortion, we will surely have different reflections given the plurality of positions that live democratically in such a powerful and numerous movement. From my point of view , although the announced Project has differences with the one elaborated and presented seven times in the National Congress for the Campaign, I have no doubt that both Deputies and deputies and Senators and senators will have the responsibility of achieving a consensus in the face of a powerful green tide that runs through the world , which was created in Argentina and is encouraged from here with every national, regional and global action that we courageously and with conviction that we are defending a human right of women and pregnant people, "added Alanis,
" The Campaign's arguments reached the Executive . Concepts such as' democracy is equality and sensitivity, 'Argentina penalizes the termination of pregnancy and is not effective', 'It is the hypocrisy that catches us',' Disposing of their bodies freely ' , they are definitions that society has already made its own, so the treatment of the IVE project is urgent, "said Jenny Durán, also of the National Campaign, to Clarin .
"We are looking forward to the project of the ruling party and it is exciting that the Micaela Law has a spatial mention because we need to transform paradigms in all areas to enforce the rights of all, all, all. The extension of rights requires consensus building always from the rights perspective This great movement that is the Campaign is going to debate with the support of the great social majority that expects more rights and a decent life, "he added.
A crowd wanted to greet the president near the Congress at the opening of the legislative sessions (AP Photo / Marcos Brindicci)
"Alberto Fernández's 'special thanks to the Pope' at the beginning of the speech is not an isolated event. His insistence on his own project - different from that of the Campaign, which is what we support over two million people on the street - whose content nobody knows yet, it is nonetheless the result of the enormous struggle of the women's movement and dissent, "said the deputy of the Left Front Romina del Plá to Clarín .
"The Legal Abortion we will conquer in the streets, so that it is effectively fulfilled in reality, encompasses the entire health system, which includes the production of misoprostol and mifepristone , which prohibits any prosecution, which is expelled to the sectors hospital clerks, "Del Plá added.
"He celebrated all the gender announcements as well as the inclusion of the ESI together with the debate of the IVE. Once again a president talking about an issue that is so uncomfortable with politics in the legislative assembly and this time with the will that be law, "said the deputy of radicalism Brenda Austin.
"The initiative sent by the President will be added to the National Campaign project that still has a parliamentary state and brings together the consensus and agreement of the huge women's movement. The challenge is to build the consensus necessary to approve it. We look forward to a debate at the height of the circumstances and with evidence-based arguments . Argentina needs to take a step forward to solve this problem that impacts women so much, "Austin said.
For Mabel Bianco, of the Foundation for the Study and Research of Women, "the president's speech was very good. On abortion, it was very clear that the project he is going to send is legalization and based on it as a health and rights issue The project for the 1000 days of support for vulnerable pregnant women will also be sent in. This complies with what is incorporated in the constitution in the reform of 94, and is much more than the universal allocation, I find it very interesting and politically responds to those who say that we only deal with terminating pregnancy . "
"The president correctly framed the issue as a matter of democracy and rights, which compromises equality and freedom , and not only as a public health issue, which in itself is already an axis of great relevance," he explained to Clarin. Natalia Gherardi, at the head of the Latin American Justice and Gender Team.
"The decision of the Executive Power to present a project that proposes the legalization of the practice during the first stage of pregnancy, coupled with the commitment to guarantee access to the health system, implies an enormous advance in the possibilities of ending the punitive power of the State , which has a very unequal impact on women's access to health throughout the country, "continued the specialist." The current abortion regulation does not completely prohibit it, but the arbitrariness with which it is applied in the different territories determines situations of enormous inequality, incompatible with a rule of law. By 2020, it is time to move forward. "
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