Legal abortion attracts neighbours

Women from across South America have begun travelling to Argentina for elective abortions, after they were legalised last week.

Argentina is the first big and mostly Catholic country to liberalise its laws in the region, where religion remains influential in society and politics.

Graca, 24, a Brazilian medical student, was travelling 2900 kilometres from Minas Gerais state to have a procedure in Buenos Aires. She said neither supporting a baby nor having a legal termination were viable in Brazil, where a draconian abortion law dates back to 1940. She is on a scholarship and has been selling cupcakes to help to fund her journey.

The Argentine law passed the senate on December 30. Previously, abortion was allowed only after rape or when the mother’s life was at risk. It will now be offered by the national health service in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

Of the 19 other countries in Latin America, only Cuba, Uruguay and Guyana permit elective abortions in early pregnancy. Outside these smaller nations, it is a crime in most cases.

Two-thirds of public hospital admissions of women in Brazil in 2019 were due to complications from an unsafe abortion, according to official data.

Absolute bans on abortion remain in El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua, where women often face long prison terms, up to 40 years in extreme cases.

In Mexico, calls to liberalise abortion laws are growing. Regional governments in Mexico City and Oaxaca have decriminalised abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

President Lopez Obrador has indicated that Mexico could follow Argentina’s lead. ‘‘Matters of this nature should not be decided from above,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s a decision for women.’’