Argentina is on the verge of making history as the first Latin American country to legalize abortion.
Its six-member Senate will convene on Tuesday to discuss a bill that will be approved by the lower house earlier this month to the delight of pro-election activists.
Pro-choice and anti-abortion campaigners will gather in the plaza near the Congress building in Buenos Aires on Tuesday afternoon and will remain there until early Wednesday morning when the vote is expected.
Estimates in Argentine media suggest that the “green” camp pushing for change has a slight advantage over its “blue” opponents: sen 33 senators reportedly plan to support the law while it૨s vote against it. Five senators are officially determined.
Mariella Belsky, executive director of Amnesty International in Argentina, said she was confident the “voluntary termination of pregnancy” bill would be approved, which would send a big message to the region with some of the world’s most restricted abortion laws. “The numbers sound pretty good,” he said.
Belsky said she was delighted and excited about what would be the culmination of decades of struggle by women’s rights activists.
“The day after tomorrow this country will be a better place than before,” he said. “This country will be better for my daughter and younger generations, so I’m really happy it will happen.”
Claudia Pinero, A writer and pro-choice activist said: “This will be a momentary and unforgettable moment, something we all look forward to at the end of a very hard year.
“I just hope the Senate realizes that there is no turning back. The women’s movement will not allow them to make long-term decisions about our bodies, about our health, or whether we will continue to resort to secret abortions.
“We still have to endure their stupid arguments that we children need to live in a nation, as if we are nothing but a reproductive machine, nothing but a womb. This is going to change tomorrow. I have no doubt about that. ”
Ortion voted in August 2018 in an earlier attempt by the Argentine Senate to legalize abortion, with many accusing then-President Mauricio Mac Macri of failing to support change.
This time, however, the country’s left-wing leader, Alberto Fernandez, and his vice president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, have made the law a champion and reportedly have senators fighting to support the bill.
Political analyst Andres Malamud said two key things had changed since the 2018 vote. “One is that the government now has a majority in the Senate.” “And the other most important thing is that the current president of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, is behind the bill, because legal abortion was the election promise.”
While activists are optimistic, Malamud said it would be impossible to predict the outcome until the last minute.
“Although the government has a majority vote, some of its senators will probably vote against the bill. The result is then based on the pro-abortion minority in the opposition group, who are slow to announce how they will vote to deny the government the political success of passing abortions as long as possible. “
