RESUMO
PIP: This article discusses the effects of the alliance between the Church and the Argentine state on women's reproductive rights. Several commentators have criticized how President Carlos Menem used the campaign against abortion for his own political interest. He issued a presidential decree on antiabortion campaign--the Day of the Unborn Child. This decree was announced on December 8, 1998, and the day of observance is March 25 of every coming year. Although the Argentine government does not have a law that explicitly regulates family planning method for the last two decades, many Argentines find the action of the president selfish. The initiation of this presidential decree was the culmination of Menem's manipulation of church and state to secure clerical support for his political regime. Even if statistics is providing him with data concerning the effects of unclear reproductive health laws, he and the church still has chosen not to focus on reproductive rights exclusively, but have concerned themselves primarily with other social and economic issues. While Menem uses the Vatican's pro-life rhetoric and his presidential power to protect fetal life, Argentines will have to contend with the existing Menem policies, which compromise the health of women and children.^ieng
Assuntos
Aborto Induzido , Catolicismo , Anticoncepção , Estudos de Avaliação como Assunto , Política Pública , Mulheres , América , Argentina , Cristianismo , Países em Desenvolvimento , Serviços de Planejamento Familiar , Direitos Humanos , América Latina , Religião , América do SulRESUMO
PIP: This article presents the analyses of the author on the difficulty that Roman Catholicism has in accepting the concept of human rights, particularly with respect to women. According to Emile Poulat, the rights of man are based on three suppositions underlying the liberal theory of rights, which explains the conflict between Catholicism and liberalism. In addition, the invention of the principle of individuality, in consequence to the transformation in the legal realm, opposes both the Catholic social order and the religious order subsequently developing a conflict of rights. Moreover, Catholicism propagates a traditional conception of women and identifies their essence in maternity, which is incompatible with the affirmation of individual rights for women. Furthermore, this article presents the fundamentalist aspect of Catholicism in Brazil. It presents case examples, which illustrates the two-sided nature of the religion and allows the evaluation of the difficulty confronted by Catholic women in fighting for their rights. It concludes that the Roman Catholic Church in Brazil is one of the most powerful adversaries of the development of women's reproductive health and rights. However, it is characterized by a fundamentalism, which is opposed to the expansion of the scope of autonomy of thought and action for some women.^ieng