Vice-President Gabriela Michetti has reiterated her firm opposition to abortion, saying the procedure should not be available legally even if the pregnancy is the result of rape.
“I understand the drama [for a woman who is raped] but there are so many dramas in life that one cannot solve. I don’t think that because of a drama one’s life ends. I mean, you can give the baby up for adoption and that’s that,” Michetti said, responding to a question about her position on abortion in cases of rape.
She said the implications of “eight or nine months of pregnancy” in a woman’s life could not justify “eliminating a person who is already conceived.”
“I mean, there are people who experience much more dramatic things and they cannot solve them and they have to deal with it,” the vice-president said in an interview with La Nación which was published Sunday.
“The State must protect all conceived human life, from the elderly through to the embryo,” she added.
Michetti claimed “abortion is very reflective of a society that only thinks about individual desire and its own interests.”
Earlier this month she told Clarín that "if someone does not want to be a mother," they should consider the carrying the baby to term nonetheless and offer their child up for adoption, calling it a "wonderful possibility."
DELAYING THE VOTE
As vice-president, Michetti also serves as the speaker of the Upper House, which on August 8 will vote on a bill to decriminalise abortion up to the 14th week of pregnancy.
Michetti came under fire recently following accusations she was “hindering the vote” by sending the bill to four instead of two committees.
“The transfer [of the bill to four committees] was totally excessive, and the transfer to [the] Budget and Constitutional Affairs [committees] was unnecessary,” opposition Senator Miguel Ángel Pichetto said at the time.
On Sunday, Michetti responded by saying “I could have sent it to more [committees] to block to the issue but I did the same as the Lower House.”
The Argentine vice-president has previously gone on record with her
One of the leading opponents of the proposed law is Vice President Gabriela Michetti, who says Argentine women already have “a wonderful pro-life option” for dealing with unwanted pregnancies. “If a girl is supported and has all the things that she needs and can give birth, she can give this child to the multitude of couples, single people, and families that want to adopt and particularly want to adopt newborns,” she said in a TV interview on Sunday.
-TIMES
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