After more than 12 hours of speeches, the Argentine Senate approved the bill that legalizes abortion until the 14th week of pregnancy. There were 39 votes in favor, 29 against, and one abstention.
Most of the favorable votes came from senators, in cross-sectional support, from across the party spectrum, reports Pagina 12.
As LABS‘ columnist, Gabriela Grosskopf Antunes, pointed out, the fight for abortion’s (voluntary and free) legalization is not new. This was the ninth time that the topic was considered in Congress by legislators.
The activists hope that the approval of the new legislation in Congress will warm up the discussion in other Latin American countries. In the region, only Cuba, Uruguay, and Guyana provide for legal abortion. But the “gestation” of this idea has also been growing in countries with a strong Catholic tradition, such as Chile and Mexico, whose feminist movements are making significant progress but coming up against historical religious traditions.
Argentine feminists are pioneers in Latin America, creators of movements that transcend borders such as, for example, the ni una menos, which fights against impunity in cases of femicide and has lit women around the world, for years, in the struggle for equality. It was the struggle of Argentine women that shaped the characterization of femicide in the world’s legal history, showing that, often, gender is a defining factor in victims’ tragic fate.
