June 2, 2005

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Evangelical women expressed their solidarity with Romina Tejerina, a young woman in jail since August 2002 and who is currently being tried in Jujuy, a province in northern Argentina. Tejerina is accused of second-degree murder for having killed her child who resulted from rape.

"Our greatest wish is that God gives you His peace and that you can feel at this time that you are in the palm of His hand," said the letter that Pastor Margarita Lais Tourn, coordinator of the Women's Forum of member Churches of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) in Argentine sent Wednesday to the young woman.

Tejerina, was 17 years old in August 2002 when she was raped by a neighbor after leaving a party. She became pregnant but hid both the rape and pregnancy out of shame, guilt and fear of social pressure. When she was seven months pregnant she gave birth in her bathroom and in the midst of a psychotic episode she killed the baby because she thought she saw the face of her rapist.

In the letter, the Evangelical women lamented the fact that Argentine society views violence against women as natural and affirmed their support for all measures aimed at ensuring that the context is taken into account when the law is applied. "We do so motivated by the example of Jesus Christ who was frequently accused of being outside of the law but whose ethics and mercy are unquestionable," they said.

At the same time they expressed concern because justice is biased by prejudices that allow a rapist to enjoy impunity while Romina is judged from the ideal of what a mother should be and not a person who suffered horrors that could be a factor in their actions.

We pray that it is not so and that all the involved people have the wisdom and capacity of discernment to achieve justice, manifested the Evangelical women.

Latin American and Caribbean Communication Agency (ALC)