In Argentina, “Yes” to Abortion
Palais du Congrès National à Buenos Aires
The legalization of abortion was one of the promises at the heart of Alberto Fernandez's presidential campaign, which has just celebrated, on December 10, 2020, the first anniversary of his coming to power. The promise is on its way to being kept because of the vote which has just taken place in the Chamber of Deputies.
At the end of a 21-hour debate, the government’s bill, which legalizes abortion up to fourteen weeks of pregnancy, was approved on December 11, with 131 votes in favor to 117 against, and six abstentions, by the Lower House of the Argentine Parliament.
The session began with 105 MPs in attendance, while 45 others attended remotely, and their numbers grew as the vote got closer.
The President of the Chamber, Sergio Massa, had from the start agreed with the deputies, to shorten to 8 p.m. a debate initially scheduled to last for 30 hours.
The December 11, 2020 vote is not a surprise: for several months, the campaign for legalization has been in full swing, supported by globalist organizations that uphold the right of women to have control of their own bodies, one of their many spearheads.
Thus, just a few days before the vote in the House, the United Nations (UN) intervened to remind members of their demands: the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Dubravka Simonovic, wrote an open letter to Federico Villegas, the Argentine representative to the UN in Geneva.
Dubravka Simonovic denounced “criminalization making abortion a practice inaccessible even in the exceptional cases provided for by law” in Argentina.
She suggests limiting the right to conscientious objection of doctors who refuse to perform an abortion in the future.
Opponents of abortion - still in the majority in Argentina, if we are to believe the polls - are betting on a rejection by the Senate of the project voted by the deputies: so far the report of the Upper House is rather in the direction of a negative vote, but pressure and last minute changes could tip the vote.
If the Senate votes equally - 35 votes in favor, 35 votes against - it is up to the President of the Senate, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, to decide. She who has already been President of the Republic, from 2007 to 2015, and has declared since 2018 to be in favor of the legalization of abortion.
An extraordinary session could be organized in the Senate by the end of the year: the month of December could be crucial for defenders of the right to life.
Related links
(Sources : Infocatolica/Le Monde – FSSPX.Actualités)
Illustration : Jacobo Tarrío, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
