Pro-life expectations high following election of Javier Milei as president of Argentina

Javier Milei, president-elect of Argentina. / Credit: Flickr by Vox Spain / Public Domain

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 20, 2023 / 15:55 pm (CNA).

Various pro-life and pro-family leaders hailed the election of the next president of Argentina, Javier Milei, who defeated Sergio Massa, current minister of economy and candidate of the Union for the Homeland party, formerly called Frente de Todos (Everyone’s Front), in Sunday’s runoff election.

Early returns gave Milei a 56% to 44% lead, and Massa conceded.

Several days before the election, the now vice-president-elect of Argentina, Victoria Villarruel, highlighted the fact that she and Milei “are both pro-life” and said that “there has to be a discussion” regarding the abortion law passed by the Argentine Congress in December 2020.

Speaking on the TV program “Solo Una Vuelta Más” (“Just One More Turn”) broadcast on Todo Noticias, Villarruel stressed that she would “like the discussion to take place on a scientific basis and serious arguments and not as ideological as those that colored the promulgation of the law.”

In her opinion, the abortion law now “unfortunately ends up being stretched to infinity.”

“Today you find women who are aborting children at term. It seems to me that that’s [not the way it ought to be],” she lamented.

Pro-life expectations with Milei as president

One of the first Argentine pro-life leaders to speak out after Milei’s victory was Father Javier Olivera Ravasi, director of the apologetics project “Que No Te la Cuenten” (“Don’t believe everything you hear”).

“And Milei just won. A year and a half ago we had ‘seen’ it. And for that reason, we noted errors and successes. Congratulations @VickyVillarruel: the great guarantee for many. May God help you keep your principles to the end,” the Argentine priest wrote.

Lila Rose, the president and founder of Live Action, wrote on X Nov. 19: “The pro-life candidate for president of Argentina, Javier Milei, has just won. Congratulations, @JMilei! Make Argentina pro-life again!”

Lupe Batallán, a young Argentine pro-life activist who recently converted to the Catholic faith, said regarding the election that she “was going to be concerned, no matter who wins, because for me, this election was lost before it began.”

“As always, I hope I’m wrong,” she commented on X Nov. 19, “but I find it a little difficult. We will have to hope for the best and see,” said the 25-year-old, who has criticized some of Milei’s positions, such as his support for the sale and purchase of organs for transplant.

Political scientist Ligia Briz, executive director of Asociación La Familia Importa (The Family Matters Association) in Guatemala, commented: “Milei wins in Argentina. Awesome. Now he will have to meet the expectations of a population that is suffering from decades of looting and ideology.”

“Another stage is opening up in Argentina. Not easy, but necessary. Reality check for socialism: You can’t eat words,” said Marcial Padilla, director of ConParticipación, a Mexican pro-life and pro-family platform.

Félix Maradiaga, former presidential candidate in Nicaragua and president of the Foundation for a Free Nicaragua, also congratulated Milei and emphasized that “his victory is a breath of fresh air in the Americas, which heralds better times in the face of the absurdities of socialism that has so impoverished Argentines and other nations on the continent. Our best wishes! Long live freedom!”

“A turn to the right in Argentina. Good for them! This guy’s great!” said Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie, a medical doctor and senior policy adviser for The Catholic Association in the United States, wrote on X Nov. 19. 

“This guy’s going to drive the Left crazy. It’s going to be fun to see it. Congratulations, Argentina!” she added.

Hours before the polls closed, the Mexican pro-life activist and Catholic filmmaker Eduardo Verástegui expressed his support for the now president-elect of Argentina. “Freedom advances today in Argentina. My support for Javier Milei,” he wrote.

If he can get enough signatures to get on the ballot, Verástegui will run as an independent candidate in Mexico’s 2024 presidential election.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.