President Javier Milei has linked Argentina’s falling birth rate to the feminist movement and the legalisation of abortion, describing the latter as a “madness” that is “costing” the country “dearly.”
“We are paying dearly for the madness of the green handkerchiefs,” Milei said on Thursday, referring to the distinctive symbol of Argentina’s campaign for legal abortion.
Speaking at a conference before business leaders and politicians in Buenos Aires on Thursday, the President said Argentina “is not reaching a population and birth rate growth rate that allows for replacement.”
“Therefore, that passion for murdering children in the mother’s womb is also costing us dearly in terms of growth, and I won’t even tell you what it means for the pension system,” said Milei, during his appearance at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas event.
An August report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) concluded that Argentina is undergoing a “profound” demographic transformation, with fertility falling rapidly to just 1.2 children per woman in 2024, well below the population replacement level of 2.1 children per woman.
According to the UNFPA, the decline is the result of several factors, among them financial constraints, job insecurity, difficulties accessing housing and a lack of childcare options.
More than 60 percent of people who have had fewer children than they would have liked, said the UN body’s report.
Milei has consistently maintained that abortion is “murder aggravated by the relationship” between the mother and child, although he has not introduced a bill in Congress to repeal the national law that legalised abortion in 2020.
Nevertheless, non-governmental organisations have accused his administration of dismantling, as part of its austerity policies, programmes and institutions dedicated to sexual and reproductive health, creating practical obstacles to access to legal abortion.
Experts also warn that living standards and optimism for the future are key factors in the decision to raise children.
– TIMES/AFP