Menem inaugurated the day with a presidential proclamation. It is thought he took an overdose of sleeping pills. The number of abortions is said to have dropped from 4.6 million in 1988 to 2.5 million in 1997. Russian pro-life leaders welcomed the new figures, but noted that work on reducing the prevalence of abortions was far from complete.
Abortion is a tradition, handed down by mothers, even grandmothers.
The country's general prosecutor is staging an inquiry into the allegations. Suspicions were aroused when 25 of 32 children at the organization's home died within three months. The allegations come in the wake of previous incidents in which donors were exploited to provide transplants for wealthy people from the Arab world. The controversy also comes amidst reports from other countries of similar occurrences, including Honduras, where 800 children vanished in 12 months, and China, where executed prisoners are routinely cut up by doctors immediately after being shot. There are 18,000 abortions per year in Isreal.