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RIO – After 20 hours of debate, the Argentine Chamber approved this morning, by 131 votes in favor, 117 against and six abstentions, the bill to legalize abortion sent last November by President Alberto Fernández. The text has now passed to the Senate, which must examine it in the coming weeks. There is still an expectation among local NGOs that the initiative will become law by the end of the year, but the decision could be held until early 2021.
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In a vote held in the House in 2018, a similar project obtained 129 votes in favor and 125 against. This time, the “yes” victory was a little weaker, anticipating a relatively more promising scenario in the Senate, chaired by Vice President Cristina Kirchner.
During her two terms as president (2007-2015), Cristina did not promote the legalization of abortion, but in 2018, as a senator and claiming to have been influenced by her daughter, Florencia Kirchner, and by the young Kirchner, the former head of state, she changed position Abortion advocates hope the vice president can now convince senators who have not yet declared their position.
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In the same session that ended at dawn, the Argentine deputies approved the so-called thousand-day bill, which provides for state assistance to women from low-income sectors who decide to have their children and do not have the resources to cover the expenses of the first years.
To avoid friction with sectors that opposed the project, the president followed the vote at the official residence in Olivos. Outside Congress, pro and anti abortion activists kept a long vigil, awaiting the final result.
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The bill that obtained the green light in the Chamber decriminalizes abortion up to the 14th week of pregnancy and establishes individual conscientious objection, forcing institutions to guarantee that the procedure is carried out. If none of the professionals in an institution agrees to undergo an abortion, the clinic or hospital must ensure that the patient is cared for elsewhere.
Campaign promise
A period of ten days was also determined to carry out the procedure, after the pregnancy was confirmed. In their speeches, the deputies presented the thoughts of sectors of Argentine society that differ diametrically on the right to abortion.
– This is a fashion, do not speak on behalf of women and poor women. You worry when they call you murderers, but there is no other way, because it is a life – said deputy Francisco Sánchez, from the opposition PRO, led by former president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019).
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In his government, the former head of state defended the debate on the law to legalize abortion in Parliament, but never exposed his personal position. Macri’s office was divided, with leaders like former Vice President Gabriela Michetti openly opposed to legal abortion. Fernández has already pledged to pass the legal abortion law in the 2019 presidential campaign.
The deputy Hernán Pérez Araújo, from the government of the Frente de Todos, said, on the other hand, that Argentina is “rescuing a debt of democracy”:
– We are defending a right that is not ours, it belongs to women. For some, fatherhood should happen when a man wants, and motherhood, on the contrary, should be mandatory. No gentlemen, motherhood is desired or it will not happen.
According to a survey conducted by the Center for Labor Research Studies (CEIL), of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), 79.1% of Argentines today are in favor of voluntary interruption of pregnancy.
