MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Criminal charges filed against Argentine Health Minister

“For the Ministry of Evil, pregnancy is a disease, and life, an epidemic to be fought,” Moreno Klappenbach argued

Conservative groups in Argentina have filed a criminal case against Health Minister Carla Vizzotti and other government officials for promoting sterilization among teenagers at the age of 16, it was reported.

Members of the American Women's Association (AMA) want Vizzotti prosecuted for breach of duty and other punishable offenses.

AMA founder Mercedes Moreno Klappenbach described the government's initiative as “sinister, nefarious and perverse,” in addition to being at odds with the National Constitution and the San José Treaty on Human Rights.

Klappenbach and Pilar Santucci claim the Government's resolution “incites the mutilation of organs indispensable for reproduction.”

Read also: Argentine authorities favor sterilization surgery starting at age 16

“I am shocked that this is the only thing the Minister of Health has to offer young people. There are those who leave the country and for those who stay, it is massive and definitive sterilization. It is nonsense. I would like to think that Vizzotti made a mistake because, as the voting age is 16, he thought that this was the age of majority, but it is not the age of majority,” Moreno Klappenbach told Infobae.

The Health Ministry's website claims that pursuant to Law 26.130 on “surgical contraception interventions”, from 2006, “it is established” that since becoming of age people can have ”free and autonomous access to surgical contraception (tubal ligation and vasectomy).“

The Ministry claims 16 is when people become of age and launched flyers inviting children as young as 13 years old to get information about contraceptive methods, stressing that they can do so ”unaccompanied by adults.“

”This lowering of the line, that the kids go without parents so that they do not feel uncomfortable to talk, is used by the government to give contraceptives to young people and that they have promiscuous sexuality because it is business for them. Vizzotti, who is the official who should watch over the health of the children, is doing the opposite by promoting this practice,“ Moreno Klappenbach said.

She also recalled that ”any injury to a person, even with his or her consent, and even more so when that consent is given by a minor, as in these cases if it does not respond to proven medical needs, makes the professional who maliciously causes it a crime.“

Moreno Klappenbach said she was ”shocked, worried, and distressed that the parents have not come out to protest en masse“. She also admitted that she feels ”impotent“ in the face of the silence of the senators and deputies.

The founder of AMA insisted that ”these anti-natalist policies lead to fewer and fewer Argentines“ and regretted that ”for the Ministry of Evil, pregnancy is a disease, and life, an epidemic to be fought“.

The Catholic Church, through its Episcopal Commission, and the evangelical confessions, through ACIERA, also spoke against this campaign ”against the dignity of the person.“

Several groups in Buenos Aires also repudiated ”the attempt at birth control and the propaganda“ aimed at getting ”adolescents to give their consent to the State to mutilate them”.

(Source: Infobae)