Decisions Denied: Women's Access to Contraceptives and Abortion in Argentina

By: Human Rights Watch

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Synopsis: The 85-page report, "Decisions Denied: Women's Access to Contraceptives and Abortion in Argentina," documents how judges, doctors and health workers prevent women from making independent reproductive decisions in violation of women's internationally recognized human rights. The report also exposes some of the detrimental effects of domestic violence on women's reproductive health. The Argentine government has not done enough to remedy these abuses and their effects on women's health, Human Rights Watch said. Women's severely limited access to safe and legal abortions in Argentina is inconsistent with international law because it threatens the rights to life, health, equality, privacy, physical integrity, and freedom of religion and conscience. Amid continuing barriers to contraception, an estimated 40 percent of all pregnancies end in an illegal and therefore unsafe abortion in Argentina today. The consequences of illegal abortions have been the leading cause of maternal mortality for two decades. Human Rights Watch called on the Argentine government to protect women's human rights to health, life, nondiscrimination, privacy, physical integrity, information, freedom of religion and conscience, equal enjoyment of rights, equal protection under the law, and the right to make decisions about the number and spacing of children.

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