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| Activists in Argentina have been pushing for a debate about the legalisation of abortion |
The Supreme
Court in Argentina has ruled that women who have an abortion after being raped
will no longer be prosecuted.
Under
Argentine law, abortion is only allowed in cases where the mother's life or
health are at risk, or if the woman is deemed "of feeble mind".
The Supreme
Court confirmed a lower court's decision to allow a 15-year-old rape victim to
terminate her pregnancy.
An
estimated 500,000 illegal abortions are carried out in Argentina each year.
The Supreme
Court unanimously backed the decision by the Superior Court in the southern
province of Chubut to allow the 15-year-old girl, who had become pregnant after
years of sexual abuse by her stepfather, to terminate her pregnancy.
The case
caused outrage in Argentina, partly because of the length of time it took the
lower court to reach its decision.
By the time
the ruling in favour of an abortion was made, the girl was 20 weeks into her
pregnancy.
Controversial
law
At the
centre of the controversy was Section 2, Article 86 of the Argentine penal
code, which says that abortion is not a punishable act "if the pregnancy
stems from a rape or an attack on the modesty of a woman of feeble mind".
Some judges
interpreted the sentence to mean abortions were only allowed in cases in which
a woman "of feeble mind" was raped.
Others
argued it meant no woman should be punished for having an abortion after she
was raped.
The Supreme
Court also ruled that in future, women would not have to seek judicial
permission to get an abortion if they had been raped.
The judges
said a sworn statement given to the doctor would suffice.
The Supreme
Court is Argentina's highest judicial instance and its decision can not be
appealed against.
Dangerous
practice
However,
the judges said that their decision was not part of a discussion about the
legalisation of abortion in Argentina, but just a clarification of existing
laws.
They said
that debate would have to be carried out in Congress.
Activists
have long called for a legalisation of abortion, citing the country's high
maternal mortality rate as a sign that the current policies of criminalising
abortion do not work.
According
to a 2010 report by the pressure group Human Rights Watch, between 400,000 and
600,000 women have illegal abortions in Argentina every year.
Campaigners
say many women, particularly young girls, run high risks by terminating their
pregnancies under unsanitary or dangerous conditions.
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