Argentina: Doctor Prosecuted For Guaranteeing Legal Abortion
In December 2020, Argentina legalized abortion on demand in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, and with no time limitations if the pregnant person’s health or life is at risk or in cases of sexual abuse.
In September 2021 the Criminal Prosecutor for Serious Attacks against Persons, launched an investigation against Miranda Ruiz for the alleged crime of abortion without consent, after having guaranteed access to a lawful termination of pregnancy requested by the patient. During the investigation for a crime that she did not commit, Miranda was deprived of her liberty and is still subjected to coercive measures.
Miranda Ruiz is a resident doctor of family and community medicine at the Juan Domingo Perón Hospital in Tartagal, Salta, in the northwest of Argentina. She chose to work there because of her commitment to providing health care to vulnerable communities. At the Hospital, she attends consultations on sexual and reproductive health such as contraception, family planning, and access to abortion.
In that capacity, she provided health care attention to an adult patient who required access to legal abortion. The practice was guaranteed through self-administered medication which culminated in the interruption of pregnancy while Dr. Ruiz was not at the Hospital. The clinical records show that she acted according to the law, supported by an interdisciplinary team and with the approval of the Hospital authorities.
It is a constitutional and legal duty for criminal prosecutors to investigate objectively and to dismiss all the charges when there is no evidence of the commission of a crime.
All governmental branches are obliged to guarantee the implementation of the Law 27.610 on Access to Interruption of Pregnancy. As the Supreme Court established in a paradigmatic case on abortion rights in 2012, states must ensure the “disposition of all medical conditions and health facilities required to perform legal abortions in a quick, accessible and safe manner" and called on the judicial powers of all jurisdictions to refrain from judicializing access to legal abortions.