Argentina Could Legalize Abortion in Historic Move in Latin America

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The debate on abortion in Argentina is one of the most progressive, but also most polarized in all of Latin America. Deeply conservative and Catholic sectors in the neighboring country seek to prevent the right of women to their choices at any cost, hindering Latin America from having yet another pioneering country in this type of legislation. Currently, only Uruguay, Suriname, and French Guyana allow abortion in this continent.

However, Alberto Fernández, elected last year and already sworn in as president of Argentina, announced during a speech that marked the opening of Congress for the 2020 legislative year that his government will make it a priority to ensure safe and legal abortion for women and that he will soon submit a bill to the chambers to approve the procedure.

In 2018, the discussion on legal abortion in Argentina made the world’s newspaper headlines. With thousands of women marching through the streets of Buenos Aires demanding that the measure be passed by the legislatures, it was believed that the measure would be fully passed.

At the time, the Chamber passed the contentious bill but the law was barred by the Senate, in line with Mauricio Macri, which symbolized a serious defeat for women’s struggles in the country. However, the debate resurfaced with Alberto Fernández.

“The state has a duty to protect its citizens in general and women in particular. We are in the 21st century and we need to respect people’s individual decisions over their own bodies,” he said. “We need a law that legalizes abortion in early pregnancy and allows women to have access to the health system when they decide to have an abortion,” he said.

Now, it is hoped that with Cristina Kirchner in the presidency of the nation’s Senate and the basis of the Justicialist government with upper house dominance, the bill will pass swiftly. However, the government does not have an absolute majority in the Chamber, which makes it difficult to pass the bill (and the continuity of its policies).

The opening speech in Congress was the reason Alberto Fernández did not meet Jair Bolsonaro in Montevideo last weekend. The Brazilian president, who first said he would not meet the Argentinian head of state, accepted a meeting during the inauguration of Uruguay’s President-elect Lacalle Pou, but conflicting agendas caused Fernández to cancel his appointments.

The abortion legalization movement is regarded as historic due to Argentina’s dimensions. Although Uruguay decriminalized abortion in 2012, the country has a small population of 3.5 million.

Argentina in turn is one of the largest countries in Latin America with approximately 40 million people. Thus, legalizing abortion in a nation of this magnitude could mean a great deal to a region that suffers from excessive conservatism.