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The Senate of Argentina approved this Wednesday the legalization of abortion until the 14th week of gestation, a decision celebrated with an outburst of joy by thousands of feminist activists who waited for the vote for more than twelve hours outside the Congress.
The legalization of abortion, a project of the center-left president Alberto Fernández, had received a half sanction from the Chamber of Deputies on December 11. and this Wednesday he obtained the vote in favor of 38 senators, with another 29 against and one abstention, a wider margin than expected.
Fernández celebrated that result on Twitter. “Safe, legal and free abortion is law. I promised to do so on election campaign days. Today we are a better society that expands rights to women and guarantees public health. Recover the value of the pawned word. Political commitment ”, wrote the president.
The vote at dawn was accompanied by thousands of feminist activists, who jumped and cried with emotion. In addition to those who were in the square, many others came out to their balconies to celebrate.
“After so many attempts and years of struggle that cost us blood and lives, today we finally made history. Today we leave a better place for our sons and our daughters, ”Sandra Luján, a 41-year-old psychologist who held a vigil with the young women in green headscarves, told AFP, who identifies the abortion campaign.
A bill to legalize abortion had been approved in 2018 by the Chamber of Deputies, but rejected in the Senate.
With the approval on Wednesday, Argentina, the native country of Pope Francis, now becomes the largest in Latin America to legalize abortion, which is also allowed in Uruguay, Cuba and Guyana, as well as in Mexico City.
“I’m too excited, I can’t think of anything. It is too much pressure to wait for the final vote and the confirmation that it is law, “Celeste Lino, a 23-year-old student who nervously squeezed her fingers, watched before a giant screen the vote cast one by one for each senator.
“Legislate for all”
The approval of this law, which contemplates conscientious objection, did not proceed along party lines. Although the ruling Frente de Todos supported the project, not all its congressmen endorsed it.
And there were parliamentarians who marked their position in favor of legalization, regardless of their religious faith. “Why do we want to impose by law what we cannot prevent with our religion?” asked Senator Gladys González, from the opposition Juntos por el Cambio and a practicing Catholic, announcing her support for the project.
President Fernández, close to Francisco, had declared days ago: “I am a Catholic, but I have to legislate for everyone. Also, I am a Catholic who thinks that abortion is not a sin. “
The government estimates that between 370,000 and 520,000 clandestine abortions occur annually in a country of 45 million inhabitants. Since democratic restoration in 1983, there have been more than 3,000 women killed by unsafe abortions.
In parallel and in the same session, Congress approved a Law of 1,000 days, to provide material and sanitary accompaniment to women from vulnerable sectors who want to carry out their pregnancy in such a way that financial difficulties do not constitute a reason for abortion.
Catholics and Evangelicals
The opposition to the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, which adopted the light blue color, had as standard bearers the Catholic Church and the Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches, also promoters of massive street marches and open-air masses.
According to a 2019 survey on religious beliefs carried out by the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet), 62.9% of Argentines declare themselves Catholic, 18.9% without religion and 15.3% evangelical.
Another 2020 Conicet survey found that 22.3% of Catholics in Argentina think that women should have the right to abortion if they so decide, 55.7% believe that abortion should be allowed only in some circumstances and 17.2% reject it in all cases.
Outside the Congress, on the crowded blue side, many waited on their knees for the result of the parliamentary debate, received with enormous disappointment.
Until now in Argentina abortion was only allowed in the event of rape or risk of life to the woman, according to a 1921 legislation.
Argentina approved divorce in 1987. Then came a comprehensive sexual education law (2006), one for equal marriage (2010), and one for gender identity (2012).
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