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Religion in decision-making on legal abortion in Argentina

This article will address the presence of religious agents with expertise in bioethics that participate in Public Hospitals' committees and intervene in abortion requests. First we will make an overview of the context of cases of legal abortion in Argentina, noting that in most cases the expert's religious beliefs often influence and determine women's decisions. Then, we will focus on the discussion in a committee on a particular case: a young disabled woman who requested an abortion after sexual abuse who went through a long path in the Justice System and assessments of expert committees and could not terminate her pregnancy. This case illustrates how religious beliefs influence decision-making in the area of public health and how the presence of bioethicists religious agents is consolidating as a strategy to influence public spaces of the Catholic Church in Argentina

Religion; Catholicism; abortion; reproductive health


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