UPDATE - Argentina legalizes abortion despite public protests

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Vakkas Dogantekin and Gabriel Toueg (ANKARA, SAO PAOLO) - Argentina's Senate on Wednesday legalized abortion up to the 14th week of pregnancy, a controversial landmark bill hailed by pro-choice activists but condemned by religious groups in the predominantly Catholic country.

The measure was approved after a 12-hour debate early morning in a 38 to 29 vote, with one abstention. The Senate building was surrounded by both opponents and supporters chanting slogans.

President Alberto Fernandez had earlier promised to sign the bill into law.

''Safe, legal and free abortion is the 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...,'' he said on Twitter after the vote.

Backed by dozens of religious organizations, thousands of anti-abortionists in Argentina have held ''March for the unborn'' and ''Save both lives'' demonstrations against the bill since November.

After the approval of an abortion legalization project in the Chamber of Deputies on December 11, and two years after a similar bill failed to be approved, Argentine’s Senate finally voted to allow women in the country to interrupt pregnancy on request. With a tight vote, Argentina became the first major Latin American country to allow terminations. In his vote in favour, Senator Oscar Parrilli said: “No woman is being forced to have an abortion. What is being done is that it will not be considered a crime. We are recognizing women's rights”.

Senator Dalmacio Mera, who voted against the bill, said the project “does not speak of the central person on the issue, which is the baby, the unborn child. (The project) does not recognize it, does not take it into account, does not mention it. Nor does it speak of parental responsibility”. Legal abortion is extremely rare in Latin America because of a long history of opposition by the Catholic Church. Across the region, abortions on demand are available only in Cuba, Uruguay, and some parts of Mexico. The approved law is accompanied by side legislation aimed at assisting women who want to continue their pregnancies and face severe economic or social difficulties.

During the debate that stretched into Wednesday early hours, in response to Mera, Senator Nancy González said that "Since we rejected this project in 2018, 70 or more women have died from clandestine abortions. Who carries the deaths of those women on their shoulders after having had the opportunity to give them a safe, legal and free abortion? In 2018, when we discussed (the law), it was (already) late. Today is even later as the lives of these women can’t be recovered anymore”. Senator Sergio Leavy, who voted against in 2018 and has changed his vote, said: "I have realized that this law does not force abortion or promote it, it only gives it a legal and safe framework".

In one of the most moving speeches, Senator Gladys González, who voted in favor both in 2018 and on Wednesday, revealed she was pregnant and that days after the 2018 vote, when she lost her baby, she even thought God was punishing her for voting for abortion. “Do you think it is Christian to condemn women who decide to terminate a pregnancy? I do not believe it. I don't want to criminalize women who are always desperate”, she said. Addressing the Church directly, González said: "We can’t impose our Catholic morality on all Argentineans (...) because we were late in understanding the need to use contraceptives, because we could not save no woman’s life".

With 38 Senators in favor, 29 against and 1 abstention, the approved bill sends a loud message to a region with some of the world’s most restrictive abortion laws. It comes in the wake of a campaign promise by center-leftist President Alberto Fernández to submit to Congress a bill to legalize abortion. “I'm a Catholic, but I have to legislate for everyone”, Fernández said last Thursday. “(Abortion) is a very serious public health problem”. What came as no surprise was the gender division of votes. Among female senators, most (19) voted in favor, with only 8 against. On the male side, most (21) voted against the bill, with 19 in favor.

The approved proposal provides for abortions to be performed until the 14th week of pregnancy. Two senators who are openly against abortion could not vote: former President Carlos Menem, who is currently hospitalized in an induced coma, and José Alperovich, suspended while responding to a sexual harassment case. The vote was followed by thousands of protesters both in favor and against the bill who gathered in front of the Buenos Aires’ Senate building to watch the speeches on huge screens. After the votes were finally announced, there were intense celebrations of the "verdes" (greens) side. On the "celestes" (sky blue) side, a deafening silence was followed by fiery glances at the screen and the promise to keep fighting for “the right to life”.

Forecasts predicted a slight majority for the approval of the bill, which in August 2018, during center-rightist Mauricio Macri’s tenure, was defeated in the Senate by a difference of only 7 votes. The bill passed the Lower House of Congress on December 11 by 131 votes in favor, 117 against and 6 abstentions.