Highlights: Argentina: an ill wind blows over women's rights under President Milei. The new president Javier Milei wants to return to several won rights. In 2018, a law was passed called Micaela Law to raise awareness among civil servants about the problem of violence against women. In Buenos Aires, many women demonstrated on Thursday, September 28, to defend the right to abortion, which presidential candidate Milei want to reverse. The bill also introduces the figure of the “unborn child” as a subject of rights, which is interpreted by some as a first step towards a repeal of the law.

While women's rights are advancing in Poland, they are regressing in other parts of the world, notably Argentina. The new president Javier Milei wants to return to several won rights…

Argentina: an ill wind blows over women's rights under President Milei

While women's rights are advancing in Poland, they are regressing in other parts of the world, notably Argentina. The new president Javier Milei wants to return to several rights won in recent years, and in particular that of abortion, voted at the end of 2020.

A demonstrator pays tribute to Micaela Garcia, murdered by a repeat rapist in April 2017 in May Square in Buenos Aires. In 2018, a law was passed called Micaela Law to raise awareness among civil servants about the problem of violence against women. EITAN ABRAMOVICH / AFP

By: Théo Conscience Follow

from our correspondent in Buenos Aires,

One of the first measures adopted by Javier Milei after his inauguration on December 10, 2023 was to eliminate the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity. A ministry which had been created by his predecessor Alberto Fernandez, and which

Javier Milei

demoted to the rank of undersecretariat of state.

Beyond the symbol, this change also implies a significantly reduced budget, which raises the question of the continuity of several public policies. This is particularly the case of the

Acompañar

, “Accompany”, program which has offered psychological and financial support to more than 350,000 victims of gender-based violence over the past four years.

Also on the legislative level, the government is seeking to modify the Micaela law, which since 2019 has provided for all public sector agents to be made aware and trained on issues of gender and violence against women.

Read alsoFight against femicide in Argentina

The “omnibus” bill presented by the government proposes that this training now relate only to “family” violence, and that it be provided only to civil servants called upon to work on these issues. The bill also introduces the figure of the “unborn child” as a subject of rights, which is interpreted by some as a first step towards a repeal of the law on voluntary termination of pregnancy passed in 2020.

The right to abortion threatened

During his electoral campaign, Javier Milei promised to return to the right to abortion and this commitment has come back to the forefront in recent weeks. After castigating the “bloody abortion agenda” in his

speech at the Davos Economic Forum in mid-January,

Javier Milei signed a decree making 2024 the year of “

defending Life, Liberty and the property

". A few days later, Rodolfo Barra, a senior official who holds a key position in the Milei administration, signed an op-ed in which he hoped that, as the “year of Life,” 2024 would be the year of repeal of the law on voluntary termination of pregnancy, and in which he states that “

each year, 100,000 children are killed in Argentina because of legal abortion

”.

Most is this video which says that a liberal provision cannot exist.

Liberalism is irrestrictive respect for the life plan of life, based on the principle of no aggression and the defense of life, freedom and property.

¿Defended the asesinato?

NC https://t.co/t04fDFcSs4

— Javier Milei (@JMilei) February 5, 2023

Also readArgentina: parade for the right to abortion, threatened by presidential favorite Milei

In Buenos Aires, many women demonstrated on Thursday, September 28, to defend the right to abortion, which presidential candidate Javier Milei wants to reverse. REUTERS - MARIANA NEDELCU

A priori it will be complicated to have this law repealed. To do this, the Argentine president would have to go through Congress, where his party

La Libertad Avanza

is in the ultra-minority, and bring together a majority of deputies and senators ready to reverse a right passed barely four years ago. During the campaign, Javier Milei floated the idea of

submitting the issue to a plebiscite

, but again this would not be enough to repeal the law, because in Argentina plebiscites only have a consultative value.

Argentina: an ill wind blows over women's rights under President Milei

Argentina: an ill wind blows over women's rights under President Milei

The right to abortion threatened

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