Headlines: Argentinian MPs approve bill authorizing abortion
Argentines in favor of the bill to legalize abortion react after the result of the vote in Congress in Buenos Aires, December 11, 2020 © REUTERS / Agustin Marcarian
Text by: Achim Lippold Follow
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After a marathon debate broadcast live which lasted almost 20 hours, the Chamber of Deputies voted Friday, December 11, 2020 in favor of a text that authorizes abortion.
131 parliamentarians voted for, 117 against this bill which divides the political class as much as the Argentinian society, mainly Catholic.
But a sign that mentalities are changing, writes
La Nación
, the result was less tight than in 2018. At the time, 129 deputies voted in favor of the text and 125 against.
It was an "
intense and grueling debate
," said the newspaper, "
a debate charged with emotion
".
The daily
Perfil
talks about a historic debate and has published some key phrases from the debate which has just ended.
"
I have to speak as a man on the right and cannot take part in what is happening,
" said for example Luiz Alfredo Juez of the center-right party PRO.
Blanca Osuna, a member of the ruling left-wing coalition with Covid-19, took part in the debate from her hospital bed.
At 70, she defended the text by saying: "
I vote for this bill to become law, thinking of my daughters and my little daughters and for all the girls who will still be born."
"
►
Also listen: Argentinian MPs legalize abortion
A debate followed by demonstrators gathered in front of Parliament
On the one hand, there were pro-abortion demonstrators who wore a green scarf, a symbol of their struggle and who "
are currently celebrating
" according to the
Clarin
newspaper
.
On the other side of the barriers, opponents of the law who displayed dolls representing babies in blood.
"
Now all eyes are on the Senate,
" writes
Clarin
.
He has the last word.
In 2018, senators revoked a similar bill.
Still according to
Clarin
, the pro-abortionists have a good base of support in the Senate, but the vote will undoubtedly be tight.
The Catholic Church, fiercely opposed to the bill that would allow abortion until the 14th week of pregnancy, has already started lobbying senators.
"The last cruelty of Donald Trump"
In the United States, the government carried out a new execution, a few weeks before the end of Donald Trump's mandate.
Brandon Bernard, a 40-year-old African American, received a lethal injection yesterday, Thursday, December 10.
He was sentenced to death for participating in a double murder in 1999 in Texas, when he was just over 18.
This is the ninth federal execution since July.
And the government has scheduled four more executions until the end of Donald Trump's mandate, while traditionally these are suspended during the transition period.
In any case, with this decision, the president is alienating the Catholic Church in the country, we can read on the site of public radio
NPR
.
Again this week, several religious leaders asked the government not to carry out executions before Christmas.
The NPR site stresses that the position of the Catholic hierarchy is not fully shared by the faithful who are in their majority - at 57% according to a poll conducted this year - in favor of the death penalty.
►
To read also: New lethal injection in the United States: Donald Trump increases the executions
The magazine
The New Yorker
describes executions scheduled during the transition period "
last cruelty of Donald Trump
."
According to
The New Yorker
a slight majority of Americans continue to support executions, but support for the death penalty is declining.
They were 80% to approve it in the years 1990 against only 55% today.
Donald Trump's legacy
While the president is due to leave the White House in a few weeks, the press continues to question his legacy, what remains of Donald Trump's four years.
For the
Washington Post
columnist
, there is no doubt: history will retain its catastrophic management of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Last Wednesday, more than 3,100 Americans died from this infectious disease.
Covid-19, recalls the
Washington Post
, has become the leading killer of Americans.
And Donald Trump bears a great responsibility for this because he has not done what is necessary to convince Americans to change their way of life and to apply the necessary barrier gestures.
He could have taken advantage of his authority over the Republican Party to call on his officials to put in place restrictive measures, confinements at the national level.
Or simply recommend that all Americans wear a mask starting in March.
But the worst he did, the newspaper continued, was to view the virus not as a threat to the country, but as a threat to his own political and psychological situation.
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