This meeting, in Córdoba, was of members of the National Alliance of Lawyers for the Human Rights of Women from all over Argentina. More than 50 lawyers came to discuss the challenges in the implementation of the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Law and to develop legal strategies to overcome them.
These included the lack of access to the rights recognised by the December 2020 law, more than a year after its approval, the lack of knowledge about the law in the community, the geographic and economic barriers to access, the lack of of availability of health centres providing abortion services, obstruction by social workers and pre-pay medical companies, obstruction due to the abuse of conscientious objection and improper court-related procedures (judicialización) restricting access to abortion.
A special concern was expressed about the criminalisation of Dr Miranda Ruiz in the province of Salta, for which it was agreed to devvelop strategies to support a request to dismiss her case.
The groups involved in the Alliance include Catholics for the Right to Decide, Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies (Fundeps), Amnesty International, Centre for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), Latin American Group for Justice and Gender (ELA) y the Foundacion Women x Women (MXM). The meeting allowed the exchange of local experiences and the strengthening of networks for the defence of those rights from a feminist perspective. The Alliance is a federal and inter-generational space, fighting for a more equitable and egalitarian society. With the renewed energy from being able to meet again, they developed a consensus on actions for the effective application of the abortion law throughout the country and within their network.
SOURCE: Se realizó el Encuentro de la Alianza Nacional de Abogad@s por los Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres, by Amnesty International Argentina, 13 April 2022 + PHOTO