"How women can do a safe abortion with pills themselves" hotline launch in Argentina

Press release

"How women can do a safe abortion with pills themselves" hotline launch in Buenos Aires, Argentina

WHAT: Press conference and street action.

WHEN: Thursday July 30, 2009, 17:00hs

WHERE: Cultural Center Archibrazo, C/ Mario Brave 437.

WHO: Lesbians and Feminists for the Decriminalization of Abortion and a network of feminist organizations from all over Argentina. The hotline is supported by Women on Waves (Netherlands) and the Coordinadora Juvenil por la Equidad de Género (Ecuador)

After the press conference, at 19:00 there will be a street action at the intersection of Corrientes and Callao for the legalization and decriminalization of abortion.

Background information:

In Argentina abortion is illegal except in cases where the health or life of the woman is endangered or when a mentally disabled or insane woman ("idiota o dementa") becomes pregnant after being raped.
According to the National Health Department of Health, 60% of pregnancies in Argentina are unplanned. Nationally, there are about 500,000 abortions per year, most of them clandestine. About 68,000 women enter the public hospitals each year with post-abortion complications, and annually around 100 of these women die. Unsafe abortion practices are principal the cause of death of pregnant women in Argentina.

The use of medicines to carry out safe abortions exists for more than twenty years as an established practice and is recommended by the World Health Organization and other agencies for its efficacy and low risk of death and complications when used correctly. Abortion using the medicine misoprostol is recommended by the World Health Organization as safe until the 12th week of pregnancy. There is no need for hospitalization; it involves little risk, with minimum subsequent medical care, equal to that following a miscarriage. Many women do not know that this method exists. The ones that do know, receive confusing and incomplete information.

The goal of the hotline, “Abortion: more information, less risks” is to democratize access to information on the correct way to have a safe abortion using misoprostol. This information, compiled and published by the World Health Organization, the Latin American Federation of Obstetrical and Gynecological Societies (FLASOG), and other organizations, aims to prevent death and injury caused by unsafe clandestine abortions.

For more information about abortion please see:

Women on Waves: www.womenonwaves.org
Coordinadora Juvenil por la Equidad de Género: www.coordinadorajuvenil.org
Caclai (Consorcio Latinoamericano contra el aborto inseguro): www.caclai.com
Alan Guttmacher Institute: www.guttmacher.org/
Organización Mundial de la Salud: www.who.int
Fondo de Naciones Unidas para la Población-UNFPA: www.unfpa.org/public/
Gynuity: www.gynuity.org
International Medical Abortion Consortium: www.medicalabortionconsortium.org
www.iniciativas.org.uy

Women who need to access medical abortions please go to www.womenonweb.org