FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A
BY ANA VANESSA HERRERO
AND RUBY MELLEN
Nelly Maldonado was 28 when
the baby she and her husband
were expecting was diagnosed
with anencephaly. The child
would be born without major
portions of the brain, skull and
scalp. Only 1 in 10 such babies
survive the first week after birth.
“One of the doctors told me
that if God was sending me the
baby like that, I h ad to accept it,”
said Maldonado, of Tucuman,
Argentina. “I am a Catholic, but I
think women have the right to
decide over our own body.”
Now Argentina, the predomi-
nantly Roman Catholic home of
Pope Francis, could become the
largest country in Latin Ameri-
can to legalize elective abortion.
The procedure is permissible
only in cases of rape or incest or
to save the life of the mother —
and even then, women some-
times have di fficulty finding doc-
tors who will perform it.
Legislation introduced by
President Alberto Fernández,
which would legalize abortion
during the first 14 weeks of
pregnancy, is reopening a bitter
debate th at split the country two
years ago. It is expected to pass
Argentina’s House of Deputies
this week; it faces a tougher vote
in the Senate, which could take it
up this month.
Fernández, who campaigned
last year on promises to make
abortion “legal, safe and free,”
has described it as a matter of
public health and of choice.
“The debate is not saying yes
or no to abortion,” he said last
month. “The dilemma that we
must overcome is whether abor-
tions are performed clandestine-
ly or in the Argentine health
system.”
But the legislation has aroused
strong opposition, including
fr om perhaps the country’s most
famous son.
Abortion “is not a p rimarily
religious issue but one of human
ethics,” Francis, a former arch-
bishop of Buenos Aires, wrote
last month to two women’s
groups that had requested his
input. “Is it fair to eliminate a
human life to solve a problem?”
Elective abortion is illegal in
most of Latin America, one of the
world’s most restrictive regions
for abortions. Growing efforts toincrease abortion rights in re-
cent years have yielded mixed
results. The procedure is legal in
Cuba, Uruguay, Guyana and
parts of Mexico. Chile over-
turned an absolute ban in 20 17. A
decriminalization effort in Brazil
failed in 2018. Colombia’s top
court declined to legalize the
procedure in March, but the
justices also disappointed oppo-
nents of abortion when they did
not impose a t otal ban.
Argentine lawmakers la st con-
sidered the issue in 2018. After a
robust national debate, with pro-
tests and rallies on both sides,
the legislation was passed in the
House but failed in the Senate.
Elections last year have pro-
duced a more liberal Senate, and
abortion rights activists have
continued their campaign. A ral-
ly for abortion rights drew thou-
sands of green-clad women to
Buenos Aires in February.
Fernández was poised to intro-
duce his legislation in March,
before the novel coronavirus dis-
rupted national life.
The bill that was to go before
the House on Thursday is the
ninth to address the subject in
the past 15 years. It is seen ashaving the best chance of becom-
ing law.
“Congress must rise to the
occasion and not miss the oppor-
tunity to recognize the rights of
women, girls and others who can
become pregnant to make free
decisions about their bodies,”
said Mariela Belski, the executive
director of Amnesty Internation-
al Ar gentina. “After years of resil-
ience spent waiting for this mo-
ment, we must guarantee access
to legal abortion in Argentina
without any further delay.”
Activists raised alarms last
year when a pregnant 11-year-old
underwent a C aesarean section
after doctors refused to grant her
an abortion. The girl said she had
been raped by her grandmother’s
65-year-old partner.
Health workers and activists
warn that the country’s ban forc-
es women to turn to clandestine
abortions that put their lives at
risk. Health Minister Ginés
González García said last month
that more than 3,000 women
have died in Argentina because
of such procedures since the
early 1980s.
“We need the law because
dozens of women continue todie,” said Betiana Olearo, a p hysi-
cian and activist.
Elizabeth Márquez, a B uenos
Aires lawyer, called Fernández’s
legislation “unconstitutional.”
She said it would “institutional-
ize the killing of babies in a
genocidal way.” The government
should address the causes of
unwanted pregnancies, she said,
instead of destroying the results.
She also said doctors who
object to abortion shouldn’t be
required to perform them. Under
the legislation, doctors could re-
fuse to perform the procedure,
but they would be required to
refer the patients to doctors or
centers that would.
Victoria Morales Gorleri, a
member of Congress’s Chamber
of Deputies who represents Bue-
nos Aires, said the problem isn’t
abortion but conditions that
push women to make “a very
hard decision.”
“I don’t agree with the project,
because in Argentina, life begins
with conception,” said Morales, a
member of the center-right To-
gether for the Change coalition.
“Women’s rights are being violat-
ed, including their reproductive
rights, but a problem cannot besolved with the elimination of a
human life.”
Other women see the legisla-
tion as a p athway to empower-
ment. Lawyer and womens
rights leader Soledad Deza said it
challenges “motherhood as our
destiny, an order of the patriar-
chy.”
When Maldonado had difficul-
ty getting an abortion three years
ago, she hired Deza, who is
president of the feminist group
Women x Women. It took more
than a month to secure a safe
procedure.
“This happens all the time,”
Deza said. “I have a case of a
woman who was put in jail after
she had a miscarriage. Another
woman who had a curettage
without any anesthetics, and af-
ter that, she was taken by the
police.”
The House debate starts on
Thursday; deputies are expected
to vote Friday. The Senate could
vote as soon as Dec. 28. In the
event of a tie there, the deciding
vote would be cast by Vice Presi-
dent Cristina Fernández de
Kirchner, a former president.
[email protected]
[email protected]Argentina again weighs legalizing elective abortion
BY MIN JOO KIM
AND SIMON DENYER
seoul — South Korea’s ruling party
is pushing a law through parlia-
ment that would criminalize send-
ing leaflets, flash drives and money
to North Korea. Opponents called it
a “disgraceful submission” to
Pyongyang and human rights
groups said will stifle freedom of
expression and humanitarian work.
The move follows pressure from
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who in
June labeled defectors based in
South Korea “human scum” and
“mongrel dogs” for sending items
across the border designed to un-
dermine the North Korean regime.
She warned Seoul would face a
“dear price” unless it prevented this
“wicked and sordid act of hostili ty.”
President Moon Jae-in’s govern-
ment, which has made improving
relations with North Korea a priori-
ty, immediately began cracking
down on groups that dispatch such
materials across the heavily guard-
ed frontier.
Lawmakers from the ruling
Democratic Party then introduced
a bill to make it a felony punishable
by up to three years in prison to
send promotional pamphlets and
storage devices such as flash drives,
money and other financial benefits
to the North without the govern-
ment’s permission.
When a parliamentary commit-
tee endorsed the bill last week, op-
position lawmakers staged a walk-
out, calling it “a disgraceful submis-
sion to Kim Yo Jong’s order.” A f inal
vote on the bill, which was sched-
uled to happen Wednesday, has
been obstructed by a filibuster by
the main opposition People Power
Party but is expected to pass soon.
Lawmaker Song Young-gil, a
leading sponsor of the bill, said it
was needed to salvage stalled nu-clear negotiations with the North.
But international nongovernmen-
tal organizations called it a threat to
freedom of expression, human
rights and humanitarian work.
“The South Korean government
should abandon its misguided
strategy of trying to win favor with
Kim Jong Un by cracking down on
its own citizens,” said John Sifton,
Asia advocacy director at Human
Rights Watch. “Promoting human
rights is not at odds with effective
foreign policy.”
North Korean defectors and ac-
tivist groups based in the democrat-
ic South have long sent printed ma-
terials and digital drives across the
border containing everything from
political propaganda to South Ko-
rean movies and entertainment,
which are banned in the totalitari-
an North.
They also send Bibles, food and
medicine, often using balloons,
drones or large plastic bottles tocarry the items over the militarized
land and sea border, in the hope
that people in the North will pick up
the materials and learn about the
regime’s oppression and the rela-
tive poverty of their nation.
It was not clear whether sending
Bibles and religious materials
would be immediately affected by
the ban.
The two countries have re-
mained in a technical state of war
since the Korean War ended with
an armistice, but no peace treaty, in
1953.
Park Sang-hak, a d efector who
has been leading the anti-Pyong-
yang propaganda campaign for the
past 15 years, said he has been
warned against sending leaflets
across the border since June.
Chun Yung-woo, a c onservative
former South Korea national secu-
rity adviser, called the leaflet ban
“unscrupulous.”
“The ultimate goal of engagingNorth Korea is to lead the country
to open up and make positive re-
forms,” he said on YouTube. “Is the
Seoul government trying to deny
the North Koreans the right to in-
formation, and support the oppres-
sive regime?”
Human rights groups and activ-
ist groups in South Korea have ac-
cused the Moon government of re-
stricting funding, obstructing their
acti vities and generally trying to
downplay human rights abuses
committed by Ki m’s regime since
coming to power in 20 17.
After Kim Yo Jong’s tirade
against the South, a number of
North Korea-focused NGOs faced
revi ews and office inspections from
the South Korean authorities, in
what human rights groups called
“political crackdowns.” The govern-
ment said the inspections were part
of regular interactions with the
groups and did not come in re-
sponse to North Korea’s threats.The Moon administration also
justif ies the leaflet ban by saying it
is necessary to ensure the safety of
South Korean residents who live in
the border area.
“The irresponsible leaflet cam-
paign led North Korea to threaten a
‘targeted shooting’ at the origin of
the leaflets, which made us resi-
dents shudder in fear,” a g roup of
residents in the border village of
Gunnae-myeon said in a s tatement
this week.
Activists call that an excuse.
“We activists have been sending
leaflets and flash drives to the
North for many years without
harming the safety of the border
residents,” said Park, the defector.
“The Moon government is banning
it all of a sudden only because Kim
Yo Jong complained about it.”
[email protected]
[email protected]Denyer reported from Tokyo.S. Korea moves to criminalize sending leaflets to North, angering activists
Race in AmericaThe Power of RepresentationIn 2018, Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.) and Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) made history as the first Native
American women elected to Congress. This year, they were among six Native Americans elected to the
House of Representatives — a record-breaking number. Davids and Haaland will join Washington Post
opinions columnist Karen Tumulty to discuss the impact of a more diverse Congress, Native American
history and their legislative priorities.Hosted by The Post’s Karen Tumulty on Friday, Dec. 11 at 11:00 a.m. ETWatch Live: wapo.st/raceinamericadecRep. Sharice Davids(D-Kan.)Rep. Deb Haaland(D-N.M.)