Divisive abortion bill nears approval

Argentina’s Senate has rejected a bill to legalise elective abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

The issue has divided the homeland of Pope Francis. Lawmakers debated for more than 15 hours and voted yesterday 31 in favour to 38 against.

Crowds of supporters and opponents of the measure braved the heavy rain to watch the debate on large screens set up outside Congress.

The lower house of Congress had already passed the measure and President Mauricio Macri had said that he would sign it.

Argentina now allows the procedure only in cases of rape or risks to a woman’s health.

Argentina allows abortion only in cases of rape or risks to a woman’s health and activists say 3000 women have died of complications from illegal abortions since 1983. Opponents, meanwhile, insist life begins at conception and say the bill could force doctors to perform the procedure even when they believe it is hazardous. The issue has bitterly divided Argentines, pitting conservative doctors and the Roman Catholic Church against feminist groups.

Hundreds of physicians have staged anti-abortion protests. Feminist groups, in turn, have held protests, often wearing green that symbolises their movement or outfits based on author Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale .-AP

AP Pro-choice activists in favour of decriminalising abortion wear costumes from the Handmaid’s Tale, a book and television series, as they march through Remembrance Park, created to honour the victims of state terrorism and lists the names of those who disappeared during Argentina’s last military dictatorship, in Buenos Aires.