ARGENTINA
A Watershed Defeat?
Argentina’s Senate voted down a bill that would have legalized abortion up to 14 weeks of pregnancy but abortion-rights activists say there’s now “unstoppable” momentum for loosening the country’s stringent restrictions.
Legislators in the staunchly Catholic country’s Senate debated for more than 15 hours before voting 38-31 against the motion, the UK’s Independent newspaper reported. In June, the lower House had passed the measure, raising activists’ hopes of an end to prohibitions that allow abortion only in cases of rape and risks to a woman’s health.
Jessie Clyde of the International Women’s Health Coalition said Argentina’s women’s movement is now “unstoppable,” according to the paper. She vowed to push for another vote in 2019.
The home country of Pope Francis, Argentina has seen six such bills over the past 13 years. But this was the first to pass in the lower House. Its eventual defeat could echo across the region, where several countries are also deeply divided over the issue.
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