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Argentina Makes Abortion Legal: A Landmark Decision in a Conservative Region

A historical moment for women’s right in Latin America!

Credit: Wikimedia/Thayne Tuason. Graffiti in Argentina: Aborto Legal Ya (Legal Abortion Now)

Argentina has now become the largest nation in Latin America to legalize abortion after a 12-hour Senate session on December 30, 2020, passed the bill in favor of pro-life movements who had been fighting for women’s rights for years.

This is a milestone in a region where pressures from the Roman Catholic Church and other religious organizations have been at an all-time high and calls for a celebration for the campaigners who have successfully made a historic change in the homeland of Pope Francis.

The passed law now permits pregnancies to be terminated in their initial 14 weeks of gestation, and will also be legal after that time in cases of rape or danger to the mother’s life.

After the Senate session that passed the law with 39 to 29 votes, Argentinian president Alberto Fernández took to Twitter to celebrate the victory.

“Today we are a better society that expands rights to women and guarantees public health.”

The win comes after President Fernández, previously said that more than 3,000 women have died from complications of unsafe abortions. It was a part of his election pledge in 2019 where he stated he would support the pro-life protesters.

 “The criminalization of abortion has achieved nothing,” he stated in November after putting the legislation to congress.

This support from the president is especially of importance after a similar previous attempt at legalizing abortion failed in 2018 due to pressures from the Catholic Church.

 “It is law! Today we took a huge step and we are getting closer to the Argentina we dream of,” said Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, minister of women, genders, and diversity. “We are writing our destiny, we are making history.”

The milestone has given many a new-found hope that the effects of this movement and victory can ripple to other nations in the region and inspire similar wins for women all over the world.

However, Human Rights Watch deputy director, Tamara Taraciuk Broner has stated that while “this is a gigantic victory that protects fundamental rights and will inspire change in Latin America,” we can also expect to see some more concentrated and mobilized pro-life groups.

Argentina is now the fourth country in Latin America to make abortion legal, coming after Cuba (1965), Guyana (1995), and Uraguay (2012).

Heavily conservative countries such as The Dominican Republic and El Salvador still criminalize women for abortion and have either stricter laws or complete prohibitions of abortion.   

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