The Abortion Issue

In Argentina, abortion is illegal except for if the pregnancy puts the woman's life in danger, or if the pregnancy is a result of rape.  This has led to a high number of unsafe and illegal abortion performed each year.  The main cause of maternal mortality in Argentina is complications due to unsafe abortions.  In Argentina, about 40 percent of pregnancies end in abortion.  Even in cases where abortion is legal, many doctors, especially in rural areas, do not have the knowledge of how to perform the abortion or are not willing to perform abortions.  Many times, all women, including the ones within their legal limits, are forced to handle the abortion illegally and often dangerously.  Wealthier women also have an easier time finding a safe clinic to perform the abortion because they have the money and means, but lower class women sometimes must resort to using household objects to perform the task on their own.  Because of the methods that women sometimes use, like placing an object into the uterus, serious injury can easily occur.  When these women go to the hospital, they are often mistreated, even though there are laws requiring staff to act humanly.  The nurses and doctors will go as far as to perform treatment that requires anesthesia without giving the woman anesthesia.  This is a major issue that must be taken care of because it is effecting hundreds of thousands of women each year.

Argentina Cuisine

In most parts or Argentina, the most important meal of the day is lunch and most places close for lunch.  This excludes major cities, like Buenos Aires, because the city must continue to run.  During lunch in most places, everything closes down so people can go home for lunch and enjoy a large, home cooked meal.  A lot of the food in Argentina has European influence.  Pasta, bread, and especially meat are an important part of the cuisine.  Eating beef became a tradition in the 19th century when the Pampas region was filled with cattle and the people took advantage of this convenience.  Today, a very popular dish is milanesa, which is breaded beef that is deep friend.  Also, some beef is even served very traditionally with the hide and hair still attached.  Another popular part of Argentine cuisine is a traditional drink, called yerba mate.  Yerbe mate is similar to tea, but is prepared and drunk differently than in the United States.  Yerba mate is prepared by pouring hot water over the yerba plant leaves, which are being contained in a mate, or gourd, which is decorated with silver.  When the gourd is filled with the hot water, the leaves expand and fill the gourd.  To drink the yerba mate, you use the bombilla, which is a straw with a strainer, that is made of silver.

Religion

In Argentina's national Constitution, it states that the government in Roman Catholic, but all citizens have the freedom of religion.  70% of the country is Roman Catholic, 11% is Protestant, and 16% claim no religion.  Argentina also has many Jews, Muslims, and Russian and Greek Orthodox believers.  Some indigenous peoples follow the Catholic religion, while some keep their traditional beliefs, but many attend Catholic church and bring their traditional beliefs into the Catholic religion.  Argentina has a large population of Jews and Buenos Aires has the second largest Jewish population in the Americas, second New York.  An important part of Argentinian religion is to make annual pilgrimages to holy sites and shrines.  The most popular shrine is the Virgin of Lujan that is being protected by a chapel that is now a holy sight.  Two other important holy sights are Salta city, that holds a statue of Jesus Christ, and Corrientes Province, that holds the Virgin of Itati.  Most states and provinces have patron saints that they worship at local holy sights.

About Argentina

Argentina is a country in South America filled with a diverse landscape and a population of 41 million people.  Argentina is only second in size and population to Brazil in South America.  The religion is predominantly Roman Catholic with 1% of the people being Jewish.  Argentina has the largest Jewish population in South America.  The official language of Argentina is Spanish because of the large influence of the Spanish and Italian immigrants.  Argentina gained independence in 1816 and has the current government of a Republic.  The capital of Argentina is Buenos Aires which is located in the Pampas.  The Pampas are in the central-eastern part of Argentina and has a mediterranean type climate.  Also in Argentina is Patagonia, the Andes Mountains, and the Gran Chaco.  Patagonia is an arid desert in southern and central Argentina that covers 25% of the territory.  The Andes Mountains are on the western border of Argentina and contain some of the highest mountain in the world, only behind mountain in Asia.  The Gran Chaco is a very hot area of tropical and subtropical forest and scrub.  Argentina is an extremely diverse country with and indigenous population of 700,000.  The land and the people share great diversity, and yet live happily among the land and each other.