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We repudiate the declarations of the health establishments against the IVE project

The undersigned organizations repudiate the statements of certain health institutions in relation to the approval in the Chamber of Deputies of the draft Law of Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy.

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The Private University Hospital of Córdoba and the Reina Fabiola University Clinic are opposed to the articles of the law that have their responsibility to guarantee the practice and that prohibit the objection of institutional conscience. Three private clinics in the city of San Francisco joined the announcement: the Argentine Sanatorium, the Enrique Carrá Specialty Clinic and the San Justo Clinic.

The bill establishes in article 13 the responsibility of health establishments to effect the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, without prior judicial authorization, without requirements that hinder access and must guarantee the woman or pregnant person the use of best practice available according to recommendations of the World Health Organization. It also provides that the attention must be agile and immediate, respecting privacy throughout the process.

On the other hand, article 15 regulates conscientious objection. It provides that the only way for the health professional to be exempted from his obligation to guarantee access to the practice is through the prior, individual and written manifestation of his conscientious objection. This objection must be maintained in all areas, public or private, in which it operates. The objection does not apply in the event that the life or health of the pregnant woman or person is in danger and requires immediate medical attention. Then, it provides that each establishment must keep a register of professional objectors, and expressly prohibits the objection of institutional conscience and / or ideology.

In addition, within the amendments to the Criminal Code, the addition of an article that contemplates the crime committed by the authorities of health establishments or health professionals that unreasonably delay, obstruct or refuse to perform an abortion when legally authorized is envisaged. . This behavior is repressed with imprisonment from three months to a year, and the penalty is aggravated if as a result there is damage to the life or health of the woman or pregnant person.

The health establishments expressed themselves against the law in general and of these articles in particular, arguing that they want to “choose how to cure and care for Argentines”, who have the duty to defend “the rights of the weakest in society” and that his work requires “respect for the freedom of institutional conscience.”

To begin, we remind you that health establishments, even private ones, must respect and comply with rules and standards of care to guarantee the right to health, in general, of all their patients, including sexual and reproductive health. This implies that the medical activity and the exercise of the professions related to health are regulated, not free.

On the other hand, the alleged defense or protection of “the weakest” could not occur in the context of the denial of a medical practice authorized by law. Except when the spirit of the law is to remedy the problem of preventable maternal deaths.

The democratic process of sanctioning this law, still incomplete, was up to now exemplary. For two months, deputies and deputies listened to the presentations of hundreds of experts in the field. Many of the exhibitors belong to the medical community, including the current Minister of Health, Adolfo Rubinstein, who recommended legalization. Like him, former Health Ministers Ginés González García and Daniel Gollán gave their arguments in support of the law.

Finally, we stress that the law approved in the Lower House contemplates the objection of individual conscience. Therefore, health professionals who consider that the practice of abortion is against their religious or moral beliefs, can refuse to do so as long as they respect the provisions of the law. The possibility of objecting can only have an individual with moral agency, that is, an individual who can perform acts and give meaning to them. An institution, as such, does not have a moral agency, and therefore, we consider it appropriate to prohibit the institutional conscience objection proposed by the law.

The fact that there are health centers that refuse to perform this practice in an absolute manner, constitutes an obstacle to the respect of the sexual and reproductive rights of women and pregnant persons.

With these declarations of exercise of an alleged conscience based on legal statutes, the health center authorities, in addition to limiting the rights, are exerting a clear pressure on the freedom of conscience of its professional staff.

Health institutions must assume a commitment to sexual and reproductive health, in line with the bill – in case of entering into force -, other laws related and in force, and the provisions on this matter contained in international rights treaties. humans in health issues.

Who is in charge of protecting the rights of all citizens is the State, through its legislative power, as in this case, and public policies that make effective its application. The health entities must, therefore, accompany these decisions.

Fundación para el Desarrollo de Políticas Sustentables

Cuerpo de Abogadas Feministas de Córdoba

Córdoba de Todos

Socorristas Córdoba Hilando

SEAP – Servicio a la Acción Popular

Frente de Mujeres de Nuevo Encuentro

Alternativa por el Cambio Profesional

La Jauretche

MuMaLa – Mujeres de la Matria Latinoamericana Córdoba

Secretaría de Géneros – FUC

Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir

Federación de Estudiantes Secundarios

Corriente Política y Social La Colectiva

Programa Género y Sexualidades, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad Nacional de Rosario

Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres (Cladem)

Mujeres Evita

Mujeres Socialistas – Córdoba Capital y Provincia

Muchachas Peronistas

Patria Grande Córdoba

Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad

Mil Flores Frente de Mujeres

CTA Autónoma de Cordoba

ISlyMA CTA (Instituto de Salud Laboral y Medio Ambiente)

Isadora – Mujeres en Lucha

Izquierda Socialista + independientes

Consultorio Salud Integral

Fundación ECOS

Centro Socialista de Córdoba

Martín Fresneda – Legislador Provincial

Cecilia Merchán – Diputada Nacional del Parlasur

Casa de las Mujeres de Córdoba

Colectivo Ni Una Menos – Córdoba
La Bisagra – MPE
CELS (Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales)
ELA (Equipo Latinoamericano de Justicia y Género) 
Alianza Nacional de Abogad@s por los Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres

Mujeres X Mujeres (Tucumán)

Programa de Género de la Universidad Nacional del Litoral

Encuentro de Organizaciones (EO)

Insgenar
Red de Profesoras de Derecho de la Facultad de Derecho de la UBA 
Comunicaciones Fundeps