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The Argentine Senate has legalized abortion: women who decide to do so can terminate their pregnancy legally, safely and free of charge in the national health system. In the Senate, the bill that proposes legalizing abortion up to 14 weeks of pregnancy had 38 votes in favor, 29 against, and one abstention.
The vote followed a debate that included two closing speeches: one in favor and one against. The debate that started in mid-afternoon on Tuesday ended only around 10 p.m. local time (around 1 a.m. Wednesday in Lisbon), according to the Clarion. Support for the legalization of abortion has won votes not only from senators who support the government, but also from some in the opposition.
Until now, Argentine law, in force for almost a hundred years, only allowed abortion in cases of serious risk to the mother’s health or rape. This was not the first time that the Argentine Parliament discussed the legalization of abortion. About two years ago, the issue had also reached the Senate, but ended up being rejected. The lack of support from the then president, Mauricio Macri, was fundamental to the result.
The approval of this law contradicts the official position of the Catholic Church, which traditionally has a strong level of influence in the region. In the hours before the debate, Pope Francis (an Argentine national) published a cheep where it said: “The Son of God was born discarded to tell us that every discarded person is a son of God.”
In the streets closest to the Senate building, several protesters stood vigil for several hours, awaiting the result of the vote. After the results were known, the pleasure was audible: “We did it! It is law ”, count the The country.
Argentine President Alberto Fernández welcomed the approval of the law, which he recalled was a promise in his electoral campaign. “Today we are a better society that expands the rights of women and guarantees public health,” said the head of state.
“We did it, sisters. It is law once and for all. We made history. We did it together. There are no words for this moment, it goes through the body and the soul ”, tweeted Mónica Macha, deputy of the Frente de Todos, a coalition currently in power.
The opposition mainly criticized the moment of the debate, accusing the Government of trying to hide the economic and health problems left by the covid-19 pandemic.
Despite the ban on abortion, thousands of Argentines did it each year, often using risky methods. There are an estimated 500,000 abortions annually in Argentina and, in 2018, 38 women died doing so.
Anti-abortion protester in Buenos Aires
REUTERS / Martín Villar
The decision may be the impetus for broader change in a conservative Latin America, where there are growing demands for greater reproductive rights for women. In the region, it is possible to safely abort in Cuba, Uruguay (up to 12 weeks), and in some parts of Mexico.
“The adoption of a law that legalizes abortion in a Catholic country as large as Argentina will stimulate the fight to guarantee women’s rights in Latin America,” said Juan Pappier, principal investigator for the Americas at Human Rights Watch. Reuters. “Certainly there will be resistance, I think it is fair to predict that this will happen as it did when Argentina legalized same-sex marriage in 2010, but this new law could have a ripple effect in the region.”
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