According to our implementation follow up, since the law was enacted:
- At least 31 lawsuits were filed against the law.
- Of this number, 27 of them seek to rule the law unconstitutional with general effect, 3 file criminal and civil charges on the individuals responsible for the law’s approval, and at least one sought (unsuccessfully) to prevent a woman from having access to her right.
- The National State was the one who received the most suits, with 17 cases against it versus 10 suits filed against provincial States.
- Of the total suits against the law, at least 15 were deemed inadmissible, in addition to the rejection and suspension of the effects of the only 2 preliminary injunctions filed so far.
- In addition to these 15 cases overruled, at least 3 are final and at least 2 actions have been inactive for months.
“The trend of the rejections to the legal actions filed show that the Judiciary is not receptive to the onslaughts seeking to topple the law. Therefore, we welcome the fact that the Judiciary is acting as a guarantor of a right enshrined in our legal system”, pointed out Mariela Belski, executive director of Amnesty International Argentina.
Amnesty International has been involved in the cases to protect the law and against any initiative that seeks to topple it. In addition, the organization works towards its implementation and to that end, a contact channel is now open for people to denounce if they find barriers to access a voluntary termination of the pregnancy (VTP) procedure.
Inequality and claims
Argentina’s jurisdictions remain unequal. There is still no availability of sexual and reproductive health services or trained staff in areas far from urban centres. Amnesty International has also noted a lack of production of information, including outreach campaigns, or lack of updated data allowing to have a diagnostic of the challenges in the implementation of the law across the country.
Regarding the termination of the pregnancy, Amnesty International requests ANMAT, the National Administration of Drugs, Foods and Medical Technology, to authorise the manufacture and sale of mifepristone, a drug that improves the treatment effectiveness.
The accessibility to the manual intrauterine aspiration procedure should also be improved because many provinces continue performing curettage, a method less safe to access abortions and which should be reserved only for those cases in which other options are not available.
Finally, the organisation demands the effective implementation of Comprehensive Sex Education, a key tool for students to know their rights.
Celebrating a historical law
Amnesty International will organise a series of actions to celebrate the six months of the approval of a historic law, both for our country and the region since it is a beacon for the expansion of girls, women, and persons of childbearing age.
If you suffered obstacles to access the right to have an abortion or if you know someone who did anywhere in the country, fill in the following form of Amnesty International Argentina.
