RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, surprised even his staff by announcing, in a lecture at the Sciences Po Graduate School in Paris, his decision to submit a bill to Parliament to decriminalize abortion in the country.
Less than a week after being welcomed by Pope Francis and talking with the highest authorities of the Holy See about “the need to protect life since its conception,” as the Vatican officially reported, Fernández was emphatic in advocating abortion in Argentine public hospitals.
“I’m sorry, but hypocrisy has never worked for me. That’s why I made the proposal to send a law that would end the punishment of abortion and allow any case to be attended in a public hospital,” Fernández said, confirming the position he maintained throughout the 2019 election campaign.
In his inauguration speech on December 10th last year, the Argentinian president also expressed his support for the long-standing demand from Argentinian feminist groups, which in recent years have intensified pressure on the executive and legislative branches.
In 2018, the Chamber passed a bill to legalize abortion, but the measure ended up blocked in the Senate.
The Church’s reaction to the president’s announcement was immediate. The Argentinian Episcopal Conference called for a Mass on March 8th, International Women’s Day, in the famous Luján Basilica in the province of Buenos Aires, with the slogan “Yes to women, yes to life”.
Alberto Fernández said he wants to avoid a polarization of Argentinian society and will therefore include the need to assist vulnerable women who want to have their children in the bill.
According to Santiago Cafiero, the head of the cabinet, the government will first try to approve decriminalization and then proceed with legalization.
– We will not force anyone to have an abortion. We are going to provide care for pregnant women who want (to have an abortion) and provide possibilities for those in need,” said Cafiero, one of the Argentinian president’s right-hand men.