Thursday, 28 March, 2024, 11:40 PM
Advance Search
Home

Argentina legalises abortion in historic decision

Published : Thursday, 31 December, 2020 at 12:00 AM  Count : 324

Pro-choice activists celebrate after the Senate approved a bill to legalize abortion outside the Congress in Buenos Aires on December 30. The abortion reform comes after 5 years of unprecedented feminist activism in Argentina.	photo : AFP

Pro-choice activists celebrate after the Senate approved a bill to legalize abortion outside the Congress in Buenos Aires on December 30. The abortion reform comes after 5 years of unprecedented feminist activism in Argentina. photo : AFP

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 30:Argentina Wednesday became one of only a handful of South American nations to legalize abortion, a landmark decision in a country where the Catholic Church has long held sway.
Senate president Cristina Kirchner confirmed the vote, after more than twelve hours of debate, with thousands of pro-choice activists celebrating on the streets of capital Buenos Aires.
Hundreds of thousands of illegal terminations are carried out every year with at least 3,000 women dying after backstreet abortions since the 1980s, said President Alberto Fernandez, who proposed the bill earlier this year.
"After so many attempts and years of struggle that cost us blood and lives, today we finally made history," protester Sandra Lujan, a 41-year-old psychologist, said after the vote.
"Today we leave a better place for our sons and daughters."
The landmark bill in the country of 44 million succeeded despite strong opposition from Evangelical Christians and traditional Roman Catholics -- with Pope Francis tweeting his tacit disapproval of change ahead of the vote.
Human Rights Watch Americas Director Jose Miguel Vivanco hailed the decision as a historic step, and hoped it would energize other governments to legalize abortion in Latin America.
"The criminalization of abortion has failed. It's time to end it," he tweeted.
The new legislation will allow voluntary terminations up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, and was approved 38 to 29 with one abstention.
The vote overturns a similar one in 2018 which -- although also passed the lower house -- ultimately foundered in the Senate by 38 votes  to 31.
Only Uruguay, Cuba and Guyana allow voluntary terminations in South America, which has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world.
In Argentina, terminations were previously allowed in only two instances: rape, and danger to the mother's life.    -AFP









Latest News
Most Read News
Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury
Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
Editorial, News and Commercial Offices : Aziz Bhaban (2nd floor), 93, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000.
Phone: PABX- 41053001-06; Online: 41053014; Advertisement: 41053012.
E-mail: info©dailyobserverbd.com, news©dailyobserverbd.com, advertisement©dailyobserverbd.com, For Online Edition: mailobserverbd©gmail.com
  [ABOUT US]     [CONTACT US]   [AD RATE]   Developed & Maintenance by i2soft