In March 2014, a young woman suffering from abdominal pains went to hospital in San Miguel, capital of Tucumán province in the northwest of Argentina. The 25-year-old, who became known as ‘Belen’ to preserve her real identity, was later convicted of aggravated homicide and sentenced to eight years imprisonment. Belen stirred a public outcry against the criminalisation of abortion in Argentina and the treatment of women in a society in which misogyny has deep roots.

In Argentina, abortion is illegal according to Article 85 of its Criminal Code, unless the pregnancy results from rape or endangers the life or health of the woman. Despite these exceptions, legitimate abortions remain unavailable due to the murkiness of legal provisions, the reluctance of medical practitioners to perform them, and the widespread social controversy surrounding the issue. A significant landmark was the 2012 Supreme Court ruling that reaffirmed a woman’s right to have an abortion without needing judicial authorisation in cases of rape. The ruling also demanded access to abortion in such cases, to be implemented by provincial governments.

Neither the criminalisation of abortion nor the omnipresent shadow of the Catholic Church has done much to stop those who seek an abortion from getting one. The Human Rights Watch Special Rapporteur on violence against women has reported concerns over the consequences for under-aged girls, as more than 3,000 girls under 15 gave birth each year over the past five years in Argentina. The criminalisation of abortion is having adverse effects on large numbers of the population and is actually causing a rise in the number of abortions taking place. Astonishingly, the report suggested that as many as 40% of all pregnancies are terminated illegally. This highlights a certain dichotomy behind its criminalisation, and makes us question why the legislation hasn’t been modified in light of social behaviours demanding change.

 Argentina’s legal division in several provincial jurisdictions renders the implementation of legal strategies difficult. Amnesty International has reported that only eight of 25 provincial jurisdictions have implemented the protocols on the legal interruption of pregnancy published by the Ministry of Health in 2015. Moreover, nine states have no protocols at all and eight, including the City of Buenos Aires, have protocols that further bar women’s access to abortion. Amnesty notes several factors rendering women’s access to legal abortion difficult, if not impossible: health providers objecting to abortion and breaching patient confidentiality standards, the misuse of the judicial system, and the persistent persecution and harassment women face when seeking an abortion.

In March 2017, Belen was acquitted by the Supreme Court of Tucumán. She had suffered a miscarriage and hospital staff reported her to the police for having an illegal abortion. In 2016, the UN Human Rights Committee demanded Argentina review the case and release her. The Belen case serves as a reminder of the injustices women face with regards to abortion rights. Despite institutional opposition, a national movement for the legalisation of abortion, tracing back to 1922, still exists in Argentina today.

María Victoria Mateu is an activist who promotes women’s access to abortion by facilitating the procurement of the medication misoprostol. This medication, available since the 1970s to treat ulcers, can also induce abortions. It is one of the most accessible and affordable means for Argentine women, particularly those from poor backgrounds and suffering from domestic violence, to have an abortion.

Gender-based violence 

Surrounding the highly sensitive topic of abortion and the tragic reality of women forced into clandestine manoeuvring to have one is a broader picture of mistreatment of women in a historically misogynistic society.   

Lucia Perez, a 16-year-old schoolgirl, was abducted in Mar del Plata in October 2016. After being drugged, raped and tortured, she suffered a cardiac arrest and died. Her assailants washed her and left her in hospital where she died. Her killing provoked a wave of national indignation against the prevalence of sexual and physical violence against women in the country.

Following her official visit to Argentina in November 2016, the UN Special Rapporteur condemned the prevalent ‘machismo culture’ that still allows violence against women to occur, highlighting the lack of effective implementation of legal measures to counteract this across the country. Even more significantly, the Pope also condemned this culture of violence against women in the region during his tour of the region two weeks ago.

Efforts to improve the response to the problem have been praised, such as the National Council for Women’s increase in budget and its launch of the National Action Plan for combating violence against women, aiming to improve protection and prevention measures for women across the country. The UN Human Rights Committee has also praised efforts to improve data collection on gender-based violence and the creation of more shelters for women, but despite these efforts, it remains concerned about the persistence of violence and the lack of resources to tackle the issue and implement the National Action Plan.

The attack on Lucia Perez ignited a wave of protests in October 2016, under the slogan ‘Black Wednesday’. This national movement entitled Ni Una Menos (“not one less”, meaning not one more woman lost to violence), which was organised on social media, drew thousands to the streets and spread to other Latin American countries, including Chile, Mexico and Uruguay. The aim was to denounce the structural failings within the police and security forces, the insufficient budget allocated to deal with gender violence, and more simply to trigger a cultural shift in a misogynistic society.

Femicide and backlash

Extreme forms of gender violence are increasingly being recognised as a special kind of crime: femicide, or the killing of a woman or girl by a man because of her gender. In 2012, following amendments to the Criminal Code, femicide was classified as a category of aggravated homicide which carries the life sentence. But despite being recognized in law, the difficulty remains in how it is enforced by the judicial system, as well as low prosecution and sentencing rates.

La Casa del Encuentro, a women’s rights NGO, recorded 230 femicides in 2016, and has calculated an average of one femicide occurring every 30 hours in Argentina. Victims are usually in their twenties. The systemic violence against women is affecting the younger generations whose role in society have been terminated by femicide. The after-effects on those that remain behind, including children who are made to become orphans and the fear instilled in women, amounts to a great national tragedy.

The frightening quantity of incidents is accompanied by evidence of failings on the part of police and security forces, due to insufficient protection mechanisms, inaction and apathy about important facts, inadequate record-keeping of domestic violence incidents, and stereotyping. These alarming shortcomings have inspired an initiative establishing a femicide observatory by the Office of the National Ombudsman, responsible for the collection and analysis of data to provide recommendations on existing legislation and its enforcement, particularly geared towards improving current protection mechanisms. The government efforts to tackle this issue seem to be scratching the surface of a social and cultural attitude that has become institutionalised.

The marches of the Ni Una Menos movement were instrumental in showing the extent to which misogyny adversely affects Argentinians and, more importantly, the extent to which they want to take a stance against it. Bringing gender discrimination into the spotlight and into public discourse is the first step on a long road to social change.