Argentina: Shadows over abortion a year after legalization

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Every week of late, more than 20 women with unwanted pregnancies come to Dr. Miranda Ruiz, one of the few physicians who perform free abortions in northern Argentina's Salta province — many under a year-old law that legalized elective abortion to the 14th week of gestation.

Yet activists say that abortion services in socially conservative parts of the country such as Salta remain restricted and under threat, leaving poor women the choice of a clandestine abortion or having an unwanted child.

Ruiz, who works at a public hospital, faces charges of performing an abortion without a patient's consent and was jailed for several hours in August.

Feminist, medical and human rights groups say the prosecution is part of efforts by anti-abortion forces to intimidate doctors to stop performing abortions.

The Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Law adopted on Dec. 30, 2020, gives women the right to abort until the 14th week of gestation — and past that point if a pregnancy results from rape or if the life or health of a woman is in danger.

Elective abortion also is legal in the Latin American nations of Cuba, Guyana, French Guiana, Uruguay and parts of Mexico. Some countries, such as Chile, allow abortions due to rape, when a fetus is malformed or for danger to a woman’s life. Total bans are in place in Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.

Since the beginning of the year, 32,758 pregnancies have been terminated at the 1,243 medical centers across Argentina willing to perform abortions, according to Ministry of Health figures.

But ease of access often depends on the cooperation of local officials.

In some jurisdictions, such as around the capital of Buenos Aires, abortion is easily obtainable. In other areas, few medical...