Argentinian doctor found guilty for refusing to abort baby

May 22, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – A doctor in Argentina has been found guilty of failing to accomplish his duties as a public functionary after he refused to perform a legal late-term abortion on a woman who was 23-weeks pregnant.

Dr. Leandro Rodriguez Lastra, prosecuted in the Argentinian town of Cipoletti for "obstetrical violence [what a manipulation of words that the failure to perform an abortion is legally termed 'obstetrical violence'!]," will be sentenced during a special hearing in the days to come by a criminal court in Cipoletti.

Dr. Rodriguez Lastra could receive a suspended prison sentence of up to two years, meaning that if he once again were to refuse a legal abortion he would immediately be sent to jail. He is also under the threat of being struck down from the register of licensed physicians, which would mean the loss of his job.

He was judged on Tuesday of bearing “penal responsibility” for having disregarded the law on abortion by “omission.”

“I would act the same again because no child’s death is going to weigh on my conscience,” he told InfoBae days before the trial. He also described the horror of a late abortion and insisted that he would also aim to “save both lives:” that of the mother and that of the child.

Rodriguez Lastra was holding his wife’s hand while the verdict was read. He told the press he is still convinced that he is innocent and had not been expecting to be found guilty. He will appeal the sentence, he has already indicated. He also said in an interview after the verdict that he greatly desires to speak with the woman in the case and has always been open to that.

The trial received a great deal of media attention in Argentina, where abortion remains illegal in principle but is not punishable in so-called “extreme cases” such as pregnancy resulting from rape or sexual abuse of a mentally impaired woman, or danger to the life of the woman, following a federal Supreme Court ruling.

In the province of Rio Negro a legal protocol has confirmed these “exceptions” and provides women with a legal right to obtain abortion in a public hospital when they apply. Most doctors in Cipolletto and the neighboring towns are conscientious objectors, however.

According to the public prosecution, represented by Santiago Marquez Gauna – who chose to prosecute under the heading of “obstetrical violence” – and Anabela Camporesi, Rodriguez was not listed as a conscientious objector. Because he “did everything possible not to perform the abortion” they asked for him to be condemned for “obstructing a legal abortion procedure.”

During the hearings which started on May 13 and lasted for four days, it was made clear that the woman in the case at first presented herself in the neighboring town of Fernandez Oro where she alleged that she had been raped by a family member.

Under the Supreme Court’s provisions, a woman alleging rape is under no obligation to prove the fact that her pregnancy is the result of sexual assault, nor is she required to give the identity of her aggressor. In this case, her sincerity was not put in doubt by Dr. Rodriguez Lastro.