I had no idea that vasectomies were illegal in Argentina, until I read that some guy that seriously needs to get one is now petitioning his government for permission to do so:

An Argentine who is 44 years old and has 37 children has asked the courts to allow him to have a vasectomy because he doesn’t want to keep procreating.

The case of Cleto Ruiz Diaz has all of the ingredients to attract the media, but it’s gotten more notoriety because the Argentine parliament is close to giving a green light to letting men and women have operations to eliminate their ability to reproduce.

According to Montevideo.com/EFE, the man works as a painter, and doesn’t have the money to buy contraceptives because
he says that “buying a box of condoms would be mean ‘leaving his family without a kilo of sugar’”. He also says he cannot control himself to abstain when he falls in love with a woman, and that he lived for 14 years with three wives under the same roof.

His current wife is also asking the government to allow her get her tubes tied. She may not need permission because:

At the end of last June, the Cámara de Diputados gave the green light to an initiative that would allow, on the national level, men and women to voluntarily have surgery to eliminate the ability to reproduce.

The project must be argued now in the Senate, although it’s almost a given that it will become law at the end of the year.

Interesting how much of the world looks to Argentina as a modern, highly developed country in the context of the rest of Latin America — which is seen as backwards and traditional — and basic things like vasectomies are illegal.

Via / Montevideo.com