Abortion: “culture of death”
Friday, August 11th, 2006A mentally disabled, young Argentinian rape victim was initially denied the right to abort her preganancy by courts, last month. The decision to deny the victim’s right was taken despite the fact that her circumstances — even in “pro-life” Argentina — are considered extenuating grounds for an abotion. This raised significant debate (New Zealand Herald: “Argentine court okays abortion for rape victim“):
Both Argentina’s health minister and its most powerful governor publicly backed the abortion, while Catholic groups decried their support for a “culture of death.”
A higher court in Buenos Airies did overrule the earlier judgement. But then the hospital refused to carry out the procedure (LifeNews.com: “Argentina Doctors Won’t Do Abortion on Raped Teen After Court Authorizes It“), claiming that:
In this case we’re already past the stage of abortion. It’s an advanced pregnancy.
The deadline, after which the pregnancy is considered too “advanced”, had lapsed by one week.
