The Laws

The Regulations — For several years I've been looking for the laws that authorized the Servicio Sanitario stamps and governed their use. I've had some success — I know the names and dates of some of the ordinances — but still don't have any verbatim texts. The link at the start of this paragraph leads to a summary of my current understanding of the laws, which is based on my reading of:

• Professor Donna J. Guy.
• Professor María Louisa Múgica.
• Héctor Nicolás Zinni & Rafael Oscar Ielpi.

Their books were written over a space of 30 years and — despite being in agreement regarding the overall picture — there are some discrepancies. Hence there are a few conflicts and contradictions in my summary and, I'm sure, some outright errors. Nonetheless, I'm confident the outline I provide is accurate in general. When I'm successful in my search for the ordinances themselves, I'll add them to this site. In the meantime, I'd be thankful for any reader's comments or corrections.

Ord. Nº 140 — I have found the verbatim text of only one law: Ordinance Nº 140, promulgated in the city of Salta in 1927. I think it's pertinent despite being from a different city because the laws of the various municipalities followed the same model, originally developed in Buenos Aires and Rosario. Indeed, many of the articles of the Salta law appear identical to provisions of Rosario's 1900 Ord. Nº 27, as referenced by both Múgica and Zinni & Ielpi.

The Medical Exam — Relying on my reading of Donna J. Guy's Sex and Danger in Buenos Aires, I previously thought the medical exams were simple visual inspections performed by male nurses. Now I know better. Professor Múgica's book, Sexo Bajo Control, explains that in Rosario the examinations were very thorough and performed only by doctors. She provides a detailed description of the exam criteria, which I've translated. Be warned: it may be too much information!