April 9, 2021 last updated 10:49 ET Abortion rights activists celebrate after Congress approved a bill that legalizes abortion, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec. 30, 2020 (AP photo by Natacha Pisarenko).
For Argentina’s ‘Green Tide,’ Legal Abortion Is Just the Beginning
At dawn on Dec. 30, a sea of humanity outside of Argentina’s Congress in Buenos Aires fixed their eyes on the nine giant screens the government had installed to broadcast the parliamentary session taking place inside. For 12 hours, Argentina’s Senate had been debating a bill, already approved by the House of Representatives two weeks earlier, that would legalize abortion through the first trimester of pregnancy and offer it free of cost in the country’s public health system.
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Argentina’s Senate has passed a law legalising abortion in Pope Francis’ homeland after a marathon 12-hour session, in a victory for the women’s movement that has been fighting for the right for decades.
The vote means that abortion will be legalised up to the 14th week of pregnancy, and also will be legal after that time in cases of rape or danger to the mother’s life. It will have repercussions across a continent where the procedure is largely illegal.
The measure was passed with 38 votes in favour, 29 against and one abstention.
It was already approved by Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies and has the support of President Alberto Fernandez, meaning the Senate vote was its final hurdle.