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A pro-abortion protester cries emotionally after abortion rights were legalized in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Argentina’s Senate passed a law on Wednesday legalizing abortion after a 12-hour marathon session, a victory for the women’s movement that has been fighting for the right for decades.
The vote means that abortion will be legalized in Pope Francis’ homeland until the 14th week of pregnancy, and will also be legal after that time in cases of rape or danger to the mother’s life. It will have repercussions on a continent where the procedure is largely illegal.
Natacha Pisarenko / AP
Argentine lawmakers rejected an earlier abortion bill in 2018, but this time it is backed by the center-left government.
The measure was approved with 38 votes in favor, 29 against and one abstention, after a session that began Tuesday night.
It has already been approved by the Argentine Chamber of Deputies and has the support of President Alberto Fernández, which means that the Senate vote was his last obstacle.
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Argentina will be the largest Latin American country to legalize abortion and the vote was closely followed.
With the exceptions of Uruguay, Cuba, Mexico City, the Mexican state of Oaxaca, the Antilles, and French Guiana, abortion remains largely illegal throughout the region.
Natacha Pisarenko / AP
Activists for abortion rights demonstrate in front of Congress as legislators debate a bill that would legalize abortion in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Argentina has so far penalized women and those who help them abort. The only exceptions were cases of rape or a risk to the mother’s health, and activists complain that even these exceptions are not respected in some provinces.
Just hours before the Senate session began, the Pope intervened, tweeting: “The Son of God was born as an outcast, to tell us that every outcast is a child of God. He came into the world as every child comes into the world, weak and vulnerable, so that we can learn to accept our weaknesses with tender love. ”
Argentine lawmakers rejected an earlier abortion bill in 2018, but this time it was backed by the center-left government. However, the outcome of the last vote was still considered uncertain.
That was partly due to the fact that political parties, including the ruling Peronist movement, gave their legislators the freedom to vote as they pleased.
Two of the 72 senators were absent and 43 of the remaining 70 senators were men.
Ricardo Ceppi / Getty Images
Pro-abortion protesters celebrate after the legalization of abortion rights in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Outside the Senate, pro and anti-abortion activists rallied, and supporters of the bill wore the color green that represents their pro-abortion movement.
Argentina’s feminist movement has been demanding legal abortion for more than 30 years and activists say passage of the bill could mark a milestone in Latin America, where the influence of the Roman Catholic Church has long dominated.
Marcos Brindicci / AP
Nuns attend a demonstration against the decriminalization of abortion while legislators debate its legalization, in front of Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
“Our country is a country of many contradictions,” said Ester Albarello, a psychiatrist with a network of health professionals that supports the bill, who was among the protesters outside the Congress building.
“He is the only one in the world who brought to justice members of his genocidal military dictatorship with all guarantees. But we still don’t have a legal abortion. Why? Because the church is together with the state. ”
Ricardo Ceppi / Getty Images
Pro-abortion protester cries emotionally after the right to abortion was legalized in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Also outside the legislature, a group that calls its members “defenders of the two lives” set up an altar with a crucifix under a blue tent. Dressed in a white coat and a light blue mask, teacher Adriana Broni said that even if the abortion law wins approval, “I will not teach that it is a right to kill, to murder, a baby who has no voice.”
Supporters said the bill seeks to eradicate clandestine abortions that have caused more than 3,000 deaths in the country since 1983, according to figures from authorities.
Ricardo Ceppi / Getty Images
Pro-abortion protesters celebrate with green smoke after the right to abortion is legalized in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In addition to allowing abortion within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, the legislation will also establish that even after that period, a pregnancy can be legally terminated if it was the product of rape or if the life or integral health of the person was in danger.
It will allow the conscious refusal to participate in an abortion for health professionals and private medical institutions in which all doctors oppose the procedure. But they will have to refer the woman to another medical center.
Conscientious objection also cannot be claimed if the life or health of a pregnant woman is in danger.
AP journalist Yesica Brumec contributed to this report.
