A mob of pro-abortion feminists attacked a Catholic cathedral in San Juan, Argentina, assaulting the men who stood in front of it praying, and finally burning an effigy of Pope Francis.
Citing Argentinian news sources, LifeSite News reported that video footage had been taken of a mob of angry women, many of them topless, harassing the men who stood in front of the cathedral to protect it, reciting prayers. The men did not retaliate as the women drew Hitler mustaches on their faces with marker, spray painted their faces, clothes and crotch areas, and sexually harassed them.
The women chanted, “To the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church, who wants to get between our sheets, we say that we want to be whores, travesties and lesbians. Legal abortion in every hospital.”
The footage shows the men attempting to stay stoic, though many are visibly upset or in tears. About 700 more people prayed inside the cathedral.
When they were not able to get inside, the crowd burned a human-sized effigy of Pope Francis, shouting, “If the pope were a woman, abortion would be legal.”
Police were not on hand at the time. They reportedly told media they couldn’t intervene because the protesters were women.
The incident took place on Nov. 24, Argentina’s National Women’s Encounter, held annually to bring together Argentinean feminists. It is sponsored by the Department of Culture as a social interest event.
Abortion is a contentious issue in conservative Argentina, where only in March of 2012 did the Supreme Court decriminalize abortion in cases of rape. Abortion is illegal in Argentina, and is only permitted if the mother is mentally incapacitated, if her life is at risk, or, recently, if she has been raped.
Even so, an estimated 460,000 abortions are performed each year in Argentina. Argentina’s health ministry estimates an average of 100 women a year die from improperly performed abortions.
Because Pope Francis is from Argentina, the tension is particularly high between Catholics and liberal women’s rights advocates in the country.
