Argentina’s Senate has passed a law legalizing abortion, a victory for the women’s movement that has been fighting for the right for decades. Under Wednesday’s majority vote, abortion is legalized up to the 14th week of pregnancy, and is also legal after that time in cases of rape or danger to the mother’s life.
The vote was passed with 38 votes in favor, 29 against and one abstention, after a marathon 12-hour session that began late Tuesday.
It was already approved by Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies and has the support of President Alberto Fernández, meaning the Senate vote is its final hurdle.Argentine senators debated for hour after hour over legalizing abortion, wrangling into the early hours of Wednesday before a vote that could mark the culmination of a decades-long fight by women's groups in Pope Francis' homeland and have repercussions across a continent where the procedure is largely illegal.
The bill, which would legalize elective abortion in the first 14 weeks of a pregnancy, was already approved by Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies and had the support of President Alberto Fernández, meaning the Senate vote would be its final hurdle.
If the measure should pass, Argentina would be the largest Latin American country to legalize abortion and the vote was being closely watched. With the exceptions of Uruguay, Cuba, Mexico City, Mexico's Oaxaca state, the Antilles and French Guiana, abortion remains largely illegal across the region.
Argentina currently penalizes women and those who help them abort. The only exceptions are cases involving rape or a risk to the health of the mother, and activists complain even these exceptions are not respected in some provinces.
Just hours before the Senate session began Tuesday, the pope weighed in, tweeting: "The Son of God was born an outcast, in order to tell us that every outcast is a child of God. He came into the world as each child comes into the world, weak and vulnerable, so that we can learn to accept our weaknesses with tender love.”
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