On 2 November was the 7th review of the CEDAW Committee of Argentina, in which the government had to outline its policies for guaranteeing the rights of women. The Committee stressed the need not to apply regressive policies and the difficulties of eliminating all forms of discrimination against women in the country. The final observations of the Committee will be published on 21 November.Regarding abortion, the State recognised that clandestine abortions are the principal cause of maternal deaths in Argentina, but gave no information about concrete actions to prevent them, claiming they had no official data on how many abortions covered by the law are carried out, nor data on clandestine abortions. The CEDAW Committee invited them to legislate not to penalise any women who have had abortions.The State also claimed that the effective implementation of the National Program on Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation was challenging, and did not respond when the Committee expressed concern at the decision of the province of Buenos Aires to maintain in force a restrictive protocol for legal terminations of pregnancy.Situación del Aborto en ArgentinaA group of civil society organisations in Argentina tabled a report that was presented to the CEDAW Committee during the review. The aim was to provide the Committee with information about abortion in Argentina and to give suggestions and recommendations regarding the topics covered:
- Aborto en Argentina: marco legal (Legal framework of abortion)
- Barreras al acceso a los abortos legales (Barriers to accessing a legal abortion)
- Los efectos de la penalización del aborto (Effects of the criminalisation of abortion)
- Falta de acceso a medicinas esenciales (Lack of access to essential medicines)
- Los abortos clandestinos (Clandestine abortions)
- Las cifras de mortalidad materna (Maternal mortality statistics)
- Información sobre la práctica de abortos legales (Information on the practice of legal abortion)
- Acceso y producción de información (Access to and production of information)
Report by: Abogados y Abogadas del NOA en Derechos Humanos y Estudios Sociales (ANDHES), Asociación Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir- Argentina (CDD), Asociación Lola Mora, Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad (CEDES), Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Centro de la Mujer (CEDEM), Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres (CLADEM), Equipo Latinoamericano de Justicia y Género (ELA), Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer (FEIM), Instituto de Genero, Derecho y Desarrollo (INSGENAR), Lesbianas y Feministas por la Descriminalización del Aborto, Mujeres por Mujeres, Mujeres Trabajando, Mujeres Autoconvocadas de Trelew, Observatorio de Violencia de Género de la Defensoría del Pueblo de la Provincia de Buenos Aires y la Secretaría de Género de Encuentro por la Democracia y la Equidad CABA (Nuevo Encuentro).PHOTO: World YWCA, July 2016
