ARGENTINA: PAN Y ROSAS PARTICIPATED IN SEVERAL ACTIVITIES ON THIS DAY OF STRUGGLE THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY

We marched to the Plaza de Mayo for abortion rights

Friday, November 2, 2012

With a big contingent, from Pan y Rosas and the PTS, we participated in the march for abortion rights, this Thursday, November 1, next to dozens of social, political and feminist organizations, brought together by the Abortion Rights Campaign of the City of Buenos Aires. We mobilized one year after the unsuccessful session of the Penal Legislation Committee, where the ruling party refused to allow a quorum, in order to begin to deal with the bill.

The day of struggle, that was repeated in several cities of the country, began in Buenos Aires at 8:00 a.m., with a street blockade at the National Congress, organized by Pan y Rosas, where we charged that “More than 2,500 women, mostly young and poor, died because of the consequences of secret abortions under the Kirchner administrations.” In front of the press, Andrea D’Atri, a leader of the PTS and the Pan y Rosas group, added that “The Church, the pro-Macri right wing, and the government have absolute agreement on this point: preventing any advance in legislation on abortion.”

In the afternoon, at the Congress, a single document was read out, that charged: “Now, as before, despite years of struggle by the women’s movement, the right to an abortion does not appear on the political agenda of the government, nor of the legislature.” The lawyer Myriam Bregman, from the PTS and a member of the Center of Professionals for Human Rights, stated that “only the legalization of free, safe abortion, without cost, can really prevent prosecution, and to achieve that law, the broadest mobilization is needed.”

Then we left for the Plaza de Mayo, led by the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo – Línea Fundadora, Nora Cortiñas and Mirta Baravalle; the legislator Victoria Donda; prominent personalities from the Campaign for Abortion Rights – CABA, from the CTA and from other organizations, Myriam Bregman and Andrea D’Atri.

When we passed by the Cathedral, Catholic fundamentalists and fascist groups with banners that said, “Religion or Death,” set up a provocation against us, women who were demonstrating for our rights. Cristina Kirchner’s closed-minded refusal to move forward with the legalization of abortion, the rejection of the Court’s decision by the pro-Kirchner governors themselves, and Macri’s veto of legal abortion in the City of Buenos Aires, emboldened these ultra-reactionary groups who thought they were entitled to cause a provocation, guarded by the Federal Police, who charged against the women in the demonstration, who condemned their actions.

In various cities of the country, several activities were carried out in the framework of this day, where women comrades of Pan y Rosas and of the PTS Youth, were also present.

(From the Fracción Trotskista, ft-ci.org – unofficial translation)