Health Minister Daniel Gollán was sworn in last week (photo: Health Ministry)
Health Minister Daniel Gollán said in an interview this morning that “we are going to promote a mature debate about abortion with all the sectors of society.”
The Minister pointed out that “there are 500,000 abortions per year in the country and it is the main cause of maternal death,” which makes it necessary “to have a serious debate without going to ideological and religious extremes.”
Gollán praised the model followed by Uruguay, which set up a counselling service system even before decriminalising abortion in 2012, and considered it a possible path for Argentina. “The counselling services give the woman all the necessary information so she can decide fully consciously about a situation as dramatic as an abortion. In Uruguay it had excellent results and 30% of those women who attended the counselling services ready to have an abortion, decided to not go through with it.”
The Minister also emphasised the need to comply with the existing law in cases of non-punishable abortions. “There is a law, we have to abide by it. We’re working a lot and we have got many hospitals in the country complying with this law. In others they still have conscientious objectors, but we have an increasingly effective system so that, when that happens, we can solve the problem in another hospital in another province or in the same province.”
Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández, however, contradicted Gollán this afternoon, saying that the abortion debate “is not in the government’s agenda”, though he admitted that within the ruling party there are different points of view on the issue.
Gollán was appointed Health Minister last week, replacing outgoing Minister Juan Manzur.
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