Sebastian Fest Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Updated Thursday, February 8, 2024-07:08

  • Latin America Threats to the opposition and a popular consultation on the horizon: tension in Argentina after the fall of Milei's 'omnibus law'

In the midst of the strong political crisis unleashed after the fall of the

'omnibus law'

with which he intended to reform the country, the parliamentary group of President

Javier Milei

surprised this Wednesday night with a proposal: repeal the abortion law and declare it a crime even in case of rape.

Among the justifications of the bill presented by

Óscar Zago

, government spokesman in the Chamber of Deputies, is the statement that abortion is "a euphemism", since the law currently in force implies "that one has the right to end the life of the unborn person.

Free, legal and free abortion was sanctioned in January 2021 during the government of Peronist

Alberto Fernández

, although Argentina has had a legal framework since 1921 that contemplates the interruption of pregnancy for certain reasons, including rape.

The project of the Milei deputies also aims to end what was legislated 103 years ago in the Civil Code, which established that abortion is not punishable in cases of risk to the woman's health or in cases of rape. The libertarians' proposal only vaguely mentions "life-threatening" cases.

In the case of rape, a judge should intervene, states the bill of the Milei deputies: "The judge may order that the woman be exempted from the sentence based on the reasons that prompted her to commit the crime, her subsequent attitude and the nature of the fact."

Although the project bears the signature of Zago, the proposal was prepared by

Rocío Bonacci

, a 27-year-old libertarian representative whose profession is podiatry.

If the "omnibus law" failed, the libertarians' anti-abortion proposal is destined to not advance in any way. A wide range of deputies from almost all parliamentary groups reacted with a mixture of astonishment and contempt at the proposal.

"No. Next topic," wrote deputy

Martín Yeza

, member of the PRO, of former president Mauricio Macri. "The rights conquered are not going to be taken away. They seek to change the subject, they are wrong again," said Peronist deputy Cecilia Moreau.