Argentina is a 44 million people South American country, with a very strong Catholic Church - both Evangelical Christians and traditional Roman Catholics - influence that has kept abortion from becoming legal for decades. According to studies, 60% of the Argentinians consider themselves Catholic, a decreasing figure including the nonpracticing. Today nearly one-fifth of the population has no religious affiliation. Yet the pope, who is Argentine, remains very influential in his native land. Just hours before the Senate took up the measure, he issued a message that appeared to speak to the issue. “The Son of God was born an outcast, in order to tell us that every outcast is a child of God,” he wrote on Twitter. “He came into the world as each child comes into the world, weak and vulnerable, so that we can learn to accept our weaknesses with tender love.”
Only a handful of South American countries yet have legalized abortion ‘on request’ other than Argentina, which legalized it at the end of December 2020. Cuba, Guyana, Uruguay and some states of Mexico (Mexico City and Oaxaca) allow it, and not only under certain circumstances like to save the mother’s life or health, in case of rape like Bolivia or fetal malformation like Colombia, Chile and most of the Latin American countries.
According to a report released by the Guttmacher Institute, 95% of abortions in Latin America are unsafe. Nearly one million women are hospitalized each year because of complications from unsafe abortion. Overall, Latin American rates of death related to illegal abortions rank among the highest in the world.
Senate president Cristina Kirchner confirmed the vote after more than twelve hours of debate that began on the 29th of December, sparking scenes of jubilation in the capital Buenos Aires. At the beginning of the month, the Chamber of Deputies approved the abortion bill, two years after it was already approved only to have it fail in the Senate by 1 vote. At the time, the president Mauricio Macri was personally against the bill. Today’s president, Alberto Fernández who was elected in December 2019, from the ‘Partido Justicialista’ (justicialist party, initially Peronist as in a popular center right party) had campaigned including abortion rights, gender equality, gay and transgender rights. He followed through on those promises to a degree that surprised even some of his supporters.
By the end of December, the bill past at the Senate by 14 favorable votes, making it a landmark decision for the country and the continent. The abortion will be allowed up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions to the limit concerning rape or health risks. It is considered a first of the many steps in the president’s agenda towards equality and human rights, according to Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, Argentina’s minister of women, gender and diversity : « We are optimistic, but not triumphalist ».
The law will not only save the 3000 women dying from unsafe termination every year in Argentina but will also change women’s lives all over the country. “When I was born, women did not vote, we did not inherit, we could not manage our assets, we could not have bank accounts, we didn’t have credit cards, we couldn’t go to university,” Senator Silvia Sapag said in an emotional speech after the vote. “When I was born, women were nobody.” Hopefully, the approval of abortion in Argentina will have significant effect across the region.
For years, young activists took their ideas to the streets all over Argentina for women’s rights especially during the last months to support the measure. However the opposition has been quite active as well, leading to manifestations outside the Congress on the day of the vote. This new law has led to many moving celebrations of the pro-choice activists and citizens in the streets of most cities in Argentina.
Article by Juliette Blanca
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