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Currently, Argentine women are only allowed to have an abortion if they have been raped or if their lives are in danger.
The new bill, which was approved in the lower house of Parliament in early December, would allow them to freely decide on abortion up to the fourteenth week of pregnancy.
Two years ago, an equivalent proposal fell over the finish line in the Senate with votes 38-31.
This time, the situation is almost completely even: 33 senators have spoken in favor and 32 against before today’s debate and subsequent vote, according to the Clarín newspaper compilation.
The pressure is great on the five senators who have not yet decided how to vote.
Church protests
The proposal has been presented by the country’s center-left president, Alberto Fernández, to strong protests from the Catholic Church and conservative Christian groups.
-I am Catholic but I have to formulate laws for everyone, says Fernández according to the AFP agency.
– Every year, 38,000 women are admitted to hospitals due to (illegal) abortions and since the restoration of democracy (1983) more than 3,000 have died.
In total, between 370,000 and 520,000 illegal abortions are performed each year in Argentina, according to government estimates.
Rival demonstrations
Women’s rights activists have been fighting for legalization for years. Before Tuesday’s vote, thousands of people outside the Senate are gathering in green shawls, the symbol of the abortion rights movement, to demonstrate their support for the bill.
There they are put face to face with the “light blues”, the anti-abortion supporters, who also mobilize all forces.
The debate in the Senate began on Tuesday night, Swedish time, and may last well into the night before the vote.
Mattias Mächs / TT
Argentine activists for women’s rights demonstrate in the capital, Buenos Aires, for the right to abortion. The image is from December 17, when the lower house approved the new bill on abortion rights. Now is the time for a vote in the Senate and the outcome is uncertain. Photo: Victor R. Caivano
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