Argentina: the debate on the right to abortion revived

Text by: Aude Villiers-Moriamé

The new government of Alberto Fernandez will present in the coming weeks a bill to legalize the voluntary termination of pregnancy. Two years ago, the Chamber of Deputies voted in favor of legalization, but the text was then narrowly rejected in the Senate.

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From our correspondent in Argentina,

February 19 is a symbolic date. Two years ago today, a big rally had been organized, before the Congress already, to defend access to the voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG) in Argentina, and it is precisely this demonstration of February 19, 2018 which marked the beginning of an unprecedented mobilization in the country. In the months that followed, hundreds of thousands of women, especially young women, demonstrated in favor of access to abortion.

You should know that currently in Argentina, abortion is only allowed in the event of rape or if the pregnancy presents a danger to the health of the pregnant woman. Two years later, and after the rejection of the bill in the Senate, the activists today want to relaunch the mobilization with a pañuelazo , an action which consists in waving in the air the pañuelos , green scarves, the symbol of the campaign for the right to legal, safe and free abortion.

Alberto Fernández, first Argentine president to defend the right to abortion

A mobilization relaunched while in a few weeks, the Congress will again take up this question. With an important difference compared to 2018: this time, the government supports legalization. The new president Alberto Fernández, in office for two months , openly defends the right to abortion. He is the first Argentine president to do so. His government will even introduce a bill on the subject to Congress. The details are not yet known; it will be added to the bill already drafted by the Campaign for the Right to Abortion, and the two texts will of course be compared and debated by parliamentarians. The Congress was also partially renewed in October. This change, as well as the political will of the executive to pass this law, make many activists hope that Argentina will finally cross this course.

A milestone that has not been crossed by many countries in Latin America

Most of the countries in the region are firmly opposed to abortion. Only in Cuba, Guyana, Uruguay, and some Mexican regions is abortion legal. In Argentina, feminist associations still estimate that nearly 500,000 women abort secretly each year, and that around fifty die from it.

Despite these alarming figures, a large part of the population remains strongly mobilized against abortion. As in many Latin American countries, the Catholic religion has a significant weight in Argentina, the country of origin of Pope Francis. The mobilization of those who call themselves provida , pro-life in Spanish, promises to be very intense this year. Faced with the green scarves of the defenders of the right to abortion, anti-abortion adopted the sky blue scarf as their symbol.

► Read also: Is abortion threatened everywhere?

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• Argentina
• Womens rights
• Health and Medicine
• Christianity

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