Ginés González García

Ginés González García (born 31 August 1945) is an Argentine medical doctor who currently serves as the country's Minister of Health under President Alberto Fernández, since 2019. A specialist on public healthcare, González García was also in charge of the Health Ministry under the successive presidencies of Eduardo Duhalde and Néstor Kirchner, from 2002 to 2007.

Ginés González García
Minister of Health
Assumed office
10 December 2019
PresidentAlberto Fernández
Preceded byAdolfo Rubinstein (as Secretary of Health)
In office
2 January 2002 – 10 December 2007
PresidentEduardo Duhalde
Néstor Kirchner
Preceded byHéctor Lombardo
Succeeded byGraciela Ocaña
Argentine Ambassador to Chile
In office
24 December 2007 – 10 December 2015
Preceded byCarlos Enrique Abihaggle
Succeeded byJosé Octavio Bordón
Personal details
Born (1945-08-31) 31 August 1945
San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Political partyJusticialist Party
Other political
affiliations		Front for Victory (2003–2007)
Frente de Todos (2019–present)
Alma materNational University of Córdoba

González García also served as Argentine Ambassador to Chile from 2007 to 2015.

Career

González García was born in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires Province, and graduated as a surgeon at the National University of Córdoba. He first entered public service as the Minister of Health of Buenos Aires Province from 1988 to 1991. He was appointed Argentina's Minister of Health in January 2002, days after the congressional appointment of interim President Eduardo Duhalde, and ratified in his post by President Néstor Kirchner upon taking office in May 2003.

Minister of Health

González García became the focus of a controversy in February 2005, when he was verbally attacked by the head military chaplain, Bishop Antonio Baseotto, because of the minister's public support of the legalization of abortion in Argentina (where interrupting a pregnancy is a serious crime except when the mother's life is in grave danger, or in cases of rape of a mentally impaired woman), as well as his endorsement of sex education and his implementation of a program of free contraception and condom distribution programs.[1] The dispute underscored both the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Argentina, as well as the factious nature of local church-state relations themselves.

Though González García was not retained in his post by Kirchner's wife and successor, Cristina Kirchner, when she took office in December 2007, and was instead appointed Ambassador to Chile, he was influential in the appointment of a new health minister, Juan Luis Manzur, in July 2009.[2]

On December 12, 2019, two days after returning as Argentina's Minister of Health, González García issued a protocol expanding hospital abortion access to pregnancies which resulted from rape.[3] In addition, the protocol provides that girls as young as 13 years of age can have abortions in such cases without the consent of either of their parents.[3] The protocol also weakens a doctor's ability to refuse to perform such abortions due to personal objection as well.[3]

References
  1. Clarín (2/28/2005) (in Spanish)
  2. Página/12 (6/30/2009) (in Spanish)
  3. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/12/world/americas/argentina-abortion-rape-hospitals.html
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