Proposal to legalize abortion creates divide in Argentina
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
Argentina on Wednesday — prepared for a showdown over a bid to broadly legalize abortion, turning the country into South America’s latest battleground over the long-taboo procedure.
Crowds of supporters and opponents rallied outside Congress, separated by riot fences and police. Those in favor waved green banners and formed drum circles. Those against bore the light blue of the Argentine flag, and several demonstrators carried a giant, cardboard fetus.
Argentine law permits abortion only in the case of rape, when the mother is mentally disabled, or there is serious risk to her health. Seeking an abortion for any other reason can land a woman in prison for as long as four years. Health professionals involved in the operation also can go to prison for as long as six.
“It should be a woman’s right to decide,” said Vilma Ripoll, a member of the National Campaign for Legal, Safe and Free Abortions. “May those who want to have an abortion be able to get one,” she added, and everyone have access to proper medical care.
Argentina is the latest South American nation to grapple with the legalization of abortion — something long banned throughout a region where the majority of people are Catholic. In 2012, Uruguay decriminalized it. Last year, lawmakers in Chile approved legislation legalizing abortion under limited circumstances. Last week, Brazil’s supreme court also began considering decriminalization, prompting impassioned debate and protests.
The Argentine bill — which cleared the lower house in June, setting up a vote in the Senate slated for Wednesday — would allow girls as young as 13 to terminate a pregnancy for any reason within the first 14 weeks of term. The legislation would also require that abortions be carried out within five days of the mother’s request.
As the bill has made its way through Congress this year, its advocates have flooded the streets of the capital, as well as other major Argentine cities. But away from the more left-leaning urban parts of Argentina, opposition to the bill has run deep in more rural, conservative communities.
Argentina is the birthplace of Pope Francis. Since assuming the papacy in 2013, the pontiff has largely refrained from inserting himself in domestic politics. He had not directly commented on the abortion bill, but two days before the lower house voted on the measure in June, Francis appeared to compare abortion sought for reasons of birth defects to Nazi eugenics.
“Last century, everyone was scandalized by what the Nazis did to ensure the purity of the race,” he said. “Today, we do the same but with white gloves.”
Religious figures across the country have openly opposed the bill. Senators appear to be deeply divided over how to address the several hundred thousand clandestine abortions that are estimated to be taking place in Argentina each year.