Colombia court decriminalizes abortion, adding to regional momentum

The country follows Mexico and Argentina as the third in Latin America to expand abortion rights in just over a year

By Samantha Schmidt and Diana Durán, Washington Post
Feb 21, 2022

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Colombia’s constitutional court voted Monday to decriminalize abortion in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, a transformative shift for the majority-Catholic country and the latest sign of a turning tide in Latin America.

The ruling makes Colombia the third large country in the region to decriminalize the procedure in slightly more than a year, after Mexico and Argentina, a development that appeared unlikely just a few years ago. Abortion rights activists said it could fuel further gains for abortion rights in the region.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/21/colombia-decriminalize-legal-abortion/

21.02.2022

Catalina Martínez Coral

Center for Reproductive Rights

decriminalization of abortion

Abortion Is Now Legal in Argentina, but Opponents Are Making It Hard to Get

Anti-abortion activists are suing to block a new law allowing the procedure, and many doctors in conservative areas have declared themselves conscientious objectors.

By Daniel Politi, New York Times
March 7, 2021

BUENOS AIRES — For the first time in more
than a century, women in Argentina can legally get an abortion, but that
landmark shift in law may do them little good at hospitals like the one in
northern Jujuy Province where all but one obstetrician have a simple response:
No.

Abortion opponents are reeling after a
measure legalizing the procedure was signed into law in December, but they have
hardly given up. They have filed lawsuits arguing that the new law is
unconstitutional. And they have made sure doctors know that they can refuse to
terminate pregnancies, a message that is being embraced by many in rural areas.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/world/americas/argentina-abortion-opposition.html

Argentina: Can one country’s change of abortion law alter a continent?

By Katy Watson, BBC South America correspondent
March 4, 2021

When Argentina's Congress voted to legalise abortion up to the 14th week of pregnancy, Renata (not her real name) felt excited.

"How cool," the 20-year-old from
northern Brazil remembers thinking in late December. A student and supermarket
worker, Renata saw it as the start of something new in a region where abortion
is mostly illegal.

But she thought little more of it until a
week later, when she found out she was pregnant herself. Then, she says, her
world collapsed.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56098334

Argentina’s implementation of abortion law still murky

Legalization of early-term abortion celebrated by pro-choice activists and decried by pro-life activists

Bala Chambers
02.02.2021

On Dec. 30 last year, Argentina's Congress voted to legalize elective abortion in the first 14 weeks of gestation as the Senate backed the bill two years after rejecting a similar one.

Pro-choice activists welcomed the decision while pro-life sectors decried it.

Continued: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/argentina-s-implementation-of-abortion-law-still-murky/2131149

Meet the Public Official Behind Argentina’s Landmark Abortion Ruling: Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, Minister of Women

2/2/2021
by CORA FERNÁNDEZ ANDERSON

On Dec. 29, 2020, Argentina legalized abortion until the 14th week of pregnancy—becoming the third country in Latin America (after Cuba and Uruguay) to do so. This landmark victory was the result of many years of arduous activist work to raise awareness of the harm that comes with the criminalization of abortion.

In 2005, the women’s movement launched the Campaign for Safe, Free and Legal Abortion (La Campaña Nacional por el Derecho al Aborto Legal Seguro y Gratuito), which grew more powerful, reaching massive support across the country in the past three years. From there, activists drafted a bill and sought the support of legislators to advance abortion reform in Congress. In 2018, the campaign’s bill was discussed in Congress for the first time. It passed in the Lower Chamber but was rejected in the Senate by a vote of 38-31.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2021/02/02/argentina-abortion-ruling-feminist-latin-america-elizabeth-gomez-alcorta-minister-of-women-gender-diversity/

Argentina legalized abortion. Here’s how it happened and what it means for Latin America.

Abortion rights advocates focused on public health consequences of prohibition and disproportionate impact on women in poverty

By Taylor Boas, Mariela Daby, Mason Moseley and Amy Erica Smith
Jan. 18, 2021

Early on Dec. 30, Argentina became only the second democratic country in Latin America to legalize abortion. The Senate’s 38-to-29 vote on a bill passed by the legislature’s lower house was celebrated by masses of green-clad activists in the streets of Buenos Aires. In recent years, these activists have been mobilizing in larger and larger numbers for reproductive rights.

Abortion legalization failed in 2018. What changed?
In 2018, a similar bill was passed by Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies but came up short in the Senate. By 2020, advocates for legalization had President Alberto Fernández on their side; Fernández had defeated antiabortion incumbent President Mauricio Macri in 2019.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/18/argentina-legalized-abortion-heres-how-it-happened-what-it-means-latin-america/

Argentine president signs abortion bill into law

Argentina becomes largest Latin American nation to allow legal abortions alongside Cuba, Uruguay, Guyana, parts of Mexico

Bala Chambers
15.01.2021

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez signed an abortion bill into law Thursday, allowing terminations in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

The event was held at the Museo del Bicentenario de la Casa Rosada in the nation's capital, Buenos Aires, and attended by government officials and activists, some of whom waved green handkerchiefs which have become synonymous with the feminist pro-choice movement.

Continued: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/argentine-president-signs-abortion-bill-into-law/2110580

15.01.2021

Argentina Legalized Abortion Until 14 Weeks—and We Have Feminist Organizers to Thank

The recent victory in Argentina demonstrates that women’s rights are never simply granted; they must be fought for.

1/11/2021
by CORA FERNÁNDEZ ANDERSON

In the early morning hours of Dec. 30—fifteen years after the launch of the Campaign for Safe, Free and Legal Abortion—the Argentine Congress passed a bill to legalize abortion until 14 weeks, a historic move in a region with some of the world’s most restrictive abortion laws.

After a long session that went overnight, closely followed by large crowds outside of the Congressional building, the Senate voted 38-29 to legalize abortion. The streets became a feast of green, tears and joy, hugs and chants overwhelmed the scene.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2021/01/11/argentina-legalized-abortion-until-14-weeks-the-national-campaign-for-safe-free-and-legal-abortion-is-the-hero-behind-it/

Argentina’s legalisation of abortion will provoke a backlash

The country’s decision will encourage campaigners for more liberal laws but may invigorate their opponents, too

Economist
Jan 9th 2021

Within days Argentina’s president, Alberto Fernández, is expected to sign a law making abortion legal. Argentine women will be able to terminate their pregnancies within the first 14 weeks for any reason. The measure is a big deal. With 45m people, Argentina is the fourth-most-populous country in Latin America, a predominantly Catholic region, and the native country of the current pope. It is now the largest of the few Latin American countries that allow abortion on demand (see map). Argentina’s new law will see the share of women in the region with such access rise from 3% to 10%.

Pro-abortion groups hail it as part of a marea verde (green wave), named for the verdant scarves worn by women’s-rights campaigners, not all of whom advocate greater access to abortion. Argentina’s decision has inspired discussion in Peru, says Susana Chávez, an obstetrician and congressional candidate for the centrist Purple Party. There is “an opening, and parties and politicians are starting to talk about it”, she says. Mexico’s left-wing president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has tried to avoid the issue, seemed to grant the possibility of liberalisation after Argentina’s decision. Women should decide whether the law should be changed, he said.

Continued: https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2021/01/09/argentinas-legalisation-of-abortion-will-provoke-a-backlash

09.01.2021

Andrés Manuel López Obrador

Brazilian women head to Argentina to avoid abortion ban

David Biller, Almudena Calatrava and Tatiana Pollastri - The Associated Press
Published Thursday, January 7, 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO -- With her 21st birthday fast approaching, Sara left the home she shares with her mother for her first trip on a plane. She didn't tell her family the real reason she'd taken out a loan for 5,000 Brazilian reais (US$1,000).

Two days later and several hundred miles away, a 25-year-old woman packed a backpack in her one-bedroom Sao Paulo apartment and left for the airport with her boyfriend.

Both women were bound for the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, seeking something forbidden in Brazil: an abortion.

Continued: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/brazilian-women-head-to-argentina-to-avoid-abortion-ban-1.5257305