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ARGENTINA | 21-11-2020 09:59

Fernández starts push to legalise abortion before end of year

President Alberto Fernández sends bill to Congress seeking to legalise abortion in first 14 weeks of pregnancy, firing the starting pistol on another epic legislative showdown.

Campaigners on both sides of the abortion debate stepped up their activism this week, with an epic legislative showdown over the procedure’s legalisation looming on the horizon.

To cheers from the pro-choice camp, President Alberto Fernández announced Tuesday that his government had sent a bill to legalise the procedure in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy to Congress. The initiative is expected to be dealt with in extraordinary sessions at the turn of next month, with a potential vote due before the end of the year.

In a video message posted on social networks, Fernández said that Argentina had to deal with “the dilemma” before it and face up to the reality that unsafe clandestine abortions that were being “performed in hiding.” He said he wanted to guarantee that “all women have access to the right to comprehensive healthcare."

The Peronist leader – wearing a green tie, the colour of the pro-abortion rights movement – said he was delivering on a promise he made while campaigning for the presidency in 2019. He vowed to push for legalisation in March, but those plans were put on hold when the country went into lockdown over the coronavirus.

"It was always my commitment that the State accompany all pregnant people in their maternity and take care of the life and health of those who decide to interrupt their pregnancy. The State must not ignore any of these realities," he stressed.

The president said that his bill for the Legal Interruption of Pregnancy (ILE) would be accompanied by a second that would create a ‘Thousand Days Programme’ to “strengthen comprehensive care” for women and their children for the first years of their life. The intention is to help poorer families to avoid having to resort to abortion for economic reasons. 

The scheme would establish a support programme to reduce "mortality, undernourishment and malnutrition," prevent "violence" and protect early relationships, and guarantee child support payments during pregnancy, birth and the first three years of a child's life, he said.

“My conviction, which I have always expressed publicly, is that the State accompanies all pregnant people in their projects of maternity. But I am also convinced that it is the responsibility of the State to take care of the life and health of those who decide to interrupt their pregnancy during the first moments of its development.”

Activists in favour of reform welcomed the news. Mariela Belski, the executive director of Amnesty International Argentina, called on lawmakers to “rise to the occasion and not miss the opportunity to recognise the rights of women, girls and others who can become pregnant to make free decisions about their bodies.”

“It’s time we said goodbye to decades of violations of sexual and reproductive rights. Legalising abortion is a human rights imperative,” she said.

Speaking Thursday to Futurock Radio, the president said that the “conditions” were in place for the bill’s successful passage.

"I feel like the standard-bearer for this claim. This time there will not be a president calling for a governor so that his senators vote against it. I will do all my efforts so that the abortion bill passes and becomes law," said Fernández, aiming a dig at former president Mauricio Macri.

Timetable

This will be the second time in two years that lawmakers will vote on whether to allow the legal interruption of pregnancy. In 2018, the lower house Chamber of Deputies approved a bill to legalise procedures in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, only for the more conservative Senate to subsequently reject it.

While timetables for the new bill are unclear at present, it is expected to come to a vote sooner than two years ago, when debate lasted three months. Both initiatives are expected to be dealt with in extraordinary sessions beginning after November 30.

Within the ruling Frente de Todos coalition they believe the issue was discussed exhaustively two years ago, while the coronavirus pandemic (and the complications that come with remote sessions) means long public hearings – as well as massive demonstrations outside Congress by both the blue and green camps – are unfeasible.

Argentina is deeply divided on the issue. In his speech, Fernández argued that the two bills he would send to Congress were not an attempt to solve the abortion issue, but rather an attempt to tackle the reality that exists in Argentina today.

“The debate is not about deciding whether or not there should be abortion. Abortions occur in clandestine form, placing at risk the health and lives of the women who submit to them. The dilemma we must overcome is whether abortions are to be clandestine or within the Argentine health system. .”

“The criminalisation of abortion has been of no use” the president argued. “It has only allowed abortions to occur clandestinely in troubling numbers. 

“Every year around 38,000 women are hospitalised for abortions and since the recovery of democracy, more than 3,000 women have died from this cause,” he stressed.

Abortion is only currently allowed in the event of rape or danger to the pregnant woman’s life. Those found guilty of carrying out illegal abortions can be punished with up to four years in jail.

In a recent interview, Legal & Technical Secretary Vilmar Ibarra – one of the officials who worked on the bill – quoted estimates that around 370,000 and 520,000 clandestine abortions take place in Argentina every year.

Numbers game

Given Tuesday’s announcement, all eyes now will turn to Congress, with researchers already attempting to size up how the votes will fall.

According to a recent report from the pro-reform Campaña por el Aborto Legal, Seguro y Gratuito (“Campaign for the Legal, Safe and Free Abortion”) movement, the green camp has the numbers in the lower house – 120 lawmakers is likely to be necessary and they estimate 127 or 128 votes will be cast in favour, with 109 or 110 against.

Those opposed they agree the Chamber of Deputies is likely to back the bill, as it did in 2018, but they are once again pinning their hopes on the Senate, with the fate of at least four votes unknown.

Religious groups, led by the Catholic Church and evangelical groups, said the legislative effort was inappropriately timed, given the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.

"The general situation of public health makes any attempt to present and discuss a law of these characteristics untenable and inappropriate," the Argentine Synod said. 

The Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches echoed those words, warning that the bill’s entry into Congress "will provoke demonstrations" on both sides. 

"It is not the time to discuss abortion, we are in the middle of a pandemic," the group said.

What lies ahead promises to be a tough and gruelling battle, with an outcome that remains hard to forecast. 

– TIMES

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