The Argentine Supreme Court's ruling earlier this month in the case of A.G., a 15-year-old girl who became pregnant after her stepfather raped her, does not decriminalize abortion. But it does humanize the judicial process for rape victims seeking timely medical intervention after suffering unspeakable violence.

In five days I will be addressing Argentina's House of Representatives about abortion. The occasion is as deliberately momentous as it is intentionally inconsequential. On the one hand, this is the first time Argentina's national congress has debated the legalization of abortion, and the hearing has been advertised in the national media for weeks. At the same time, the opening of this landmark debate has been scheduled in the last hours of the last legislative session this year, on a day of the week usually reserved for internal meetings.

Human Rights Watch filed an amicus brief in the case of García Méndez, Emilio and Musa, Laura Cristina s/case No. 7537 that is now before the Supreme Court of Argentina. We argue that the system by which Argentine judges authorize the detention of children under 16 years of age in conflict with the law violates international human rights law set forth by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR), and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It also contradicts basic principles outlined in the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (The Beijing Rules), and the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty.