Milei’s Party Presents Bill to Ban Legal Abortion in Argentina

On Monday, the "Freedom Advances" party submitted a bill to the Lower Chamber to repeal the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Law approved on December 30, 2020.

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The far-right party's proposal also includes the request that abortion be a criminal offense for both the woman and those who participate in the process.

On Thursday, Manuel Adorni, the spokesperson for the Argentine Presidency, went to the media to clarify that the Freedom Advances bill was not promoted by President Javier Milei.

"It is not part of his agenda. It is not driven in any way by the Executive branch," he said at a press conference at the Pink House in Buenos Aires.

The bill does not contemplate exceptions in cases of violation. However, it leaves the judge the power to decide to forgive the woman's sentence "in consideration of the reasons that prompted her to commit the crime, her subsequent attitude, and the nature of the fact."

If the Freedom Advances bill is approved, women who abort would be punished with one to three years in prison. Those who cause an abortion without the woman's consent would receive sentences of 3 to 10 years.

If the woman dies during the procedure, the penalty would reach 15 years in prison. Those who help the woman to abort with her consent could face sentences of 1 to 4 years and, if she dies, 6 years in prison.

Currently, Argentine legislation allows the voluntary interruption of pregnancy up to the 14th week of gestation in a safe, legal and free manner. It also authorizes the performance of an abortion beyond that period if her life is in danger or in case of rape and sexual abuse.

Although Adorni denies Milei's intervention in this bill, citizens recalled that the Argentine government officially declared 2024 as "Year of the Defense of Life, Liberty, and Property."

In January, during the World Economic Forum held in Davos, the far-right politician also attacked the "bloody abortion agenda" that feminists, whom he considers agents of socialism, have managed to "sneak" into international organizations.