Argentina on brink of historic vote to legalise abortion

Senate to debate bill that would make it first major Latin American country to allow terminations

Tom Phillips, Latin America correspondent and Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires
Mon 28 Dec 2020

Argentina is on the verge of making history as the first major Latin American country to legalise abortion. Its 72-member senate will convene on Tuesday to debate a bill that was approved by the lower house earlier this month to the delight of pro-choice activists.

Pro-choice and anti-abortion campaigners will gather in the plaza near Buenos Aires’s congress building on Tuesday afternoon and remain there until the early hours of Wednesday when a vote is expected.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/28/argentina-on-brink-historic-vote-legalise-abortion

Argentina moves closer to historic abortion legalization

A pro-abortion movement, symbolized by a green handkerchief, has swept through Latin America, where abortion is punishable by law

Uki Goñi
Wed 9 Dec 2020

Belén ended up in jail after suffering a spontaneous miscarriage. Unaware that she was pregnant, the 25-year-old went to seek medical care at a hospital in Argentina’s northern province of Tucumán when she suffered abdominal pain.

In accordance with Argentina’s stringent anti-abortion legislation, Belén (not her real name) was reported by the hospital to the authorities and sentenced to eight years in prison for homicide. She did not regain her freedom until almost three years later, in 2017, after a feminist lawyer who took up her case convinced the Tucumán supreme court to overturn her conviction.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/dec/09/argentina-legalize-abortion-bill-congress-vote

Argentina’s leftist president-elect reignites abortion debate

Argentina's leftist president-elect reignites abortion debate

Issued on: 23/11/2019
Buenos Aires (AFP)

The inauguration of Argentina's president-elect Alberto Fernandez next month has reignited a debate over the legalization of abortion, a year after conservatives narrowly blocked its decriminalization, leaving the country bitterly divided over the issue.

Fernandez, a leftist Peronist, pledged last week he would move to legalize abortion as soon as the new government takes over on December 10.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/20191123-argentina-s-leftist-president-elect-reignites-abortion-debate

Girl, 11, gives birth to rapist’s child after Argentina refuses abortion

Girl, 11, gives birth to rapist's child after Argentina refuses abortion
Campaigners condemn authorities who ignored girl’s plea ‘to remove what the old man put inside me’

Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires
Thu 28 Feb 2019

An 11-year old girl who became pregnant after being raped was forced to give birth after Argentine authorities refused to allow her the abortion to which she was entitled.

The authorities ignored repeated requests for an abortion from the child, called “Lucía” to protect her identity, as well as her mother and a number of Argentine women’s right activists. After 23 weeks of pregnancy, she had to undergo a caesarean section on Tuesday. The baby is unlikely to survive.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/feb/28/girl-11-gives-birth-to-rapists-child-after-argentina-refuses-abortion

Despite law’s defeat, women fight on for abortion rights in Argentina

Despite law’s defeat, women fight on for abortion rights in Argentina

By Kathleen Durkin
posted on August 26, 2018

Women in Argentina may have lost a vote for the right to abortion on Aug. 9, but they are undaunted. They are not intimidated or afraid. They are angry. They are determined. They are optimistic. With renewed energy, they say they will keep on organizing until they win this fundamental right.

The current struggle is for legalization of elective abortions up to the 14th week of pregnancy; 62 percent of the population supports reform. The lower house of the Argentinian Congress had passed such a law on June 14, in response to the mass movement. However, the more conservative Senate narrowly defeated legalization on Aug. 9 with a 38-31 vote; two senators abstained. The majority of “no” votes were cast by men over the age of 50.

Continued: https://www.workers.org/2018/08/26/despite-laws-defeat-women-fight-on-for-abortion-rights-in-argentina/

Argentina’s Abortion Vote Reveals the Catholic Church’s Deep Fear of Female Desire

Argentina's Abortion Vote Reveals the Catholic Church's Deep Fear of Female Desire

By Claudia Piñeiro
August 6, 2018

Piñeiro is an Argentine novelist, playwright and screenwriter, best known for her crime and mystery novels, most of which became bestsellers in Argentina.

Legal abortion or illicit abortion: this is what we’re discussing in Argentina these days. The country is one step away from approving a law that would cease to make abortion illicit and illegal. (The Senate votes on Wednesday.)

I have a hard time explaining it to friends and colleagues from other parts of the world. The image they have of Argentina does not match that of a country refusing to grant women this right. A pioneer in human rights, Argentina boasts one of the highest ranked universities in the world, has a thriving and diverse cultural life, and introduced same-sex marriage more than eight years ago. And my country brags a growing feminist movement, taking to the streets and making its voice heard loud and clear.

Continued: http://time.com/5357294/argentina-abortion-desire-vote/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_todayworld