The bill, which would legalize elective
abortion in the first 14 weeks of a pregnancy, was already approved by
Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies and had the support of President Alberto
Fernández, meaning the Senate vote would be its final hurdle in the homeland of
Pope Francis.
A previous abortion bill was voted down by
lawmakers in 2018, but this time it was being backed by the center-left
government. Seventy senators, more than half of them men, were to vote on the
measure sometime Wednesday. The outcome was considered uncertain.
“The vote is even,” said Sen. Nancy
González, a backer of the legislation. “This is vote by vote. We are still
working on the undecided.”
Outside the Senate in Buenos Aires, pro-
and anti-abortion activists gathered, with the bill’s supporters wearing 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 the bill’s
approval could mark a watershed in Latin America, where the Roman Catholic
Church’s influence has long dominated. Abortion remains largely illegal in the
region, except for in Uruguay, Cuba, Mexico City, the Mexican state of Oaxaca,
the Antilles and French Guiana.
“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 demonstrators outside
the congressional building. “It is the only one in the world that brought
members of its genocidal military dictatorship to justice with all the
guarantees. But we still don’t have legal abortion. Why? Because the church is
together with the state.”
Hours before the start of the historic
session, the pope again once commented on abortion.
“The Son of God was born an outcast, in
order to tell us that every outcast is a child of God,” the pontiff said on his
Twitter account. “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.”
The legislative debate was being presided
over by Vice President Cristina Fernández, who was president in 2007-2015 and
would vote only if there was a tie among the senators.