BUENOS AIRES – The Argentine Senate is on the verge of a vote that could transform the Catholic nation, home of Pope Francis, in the largest country in Latin America to legalize abortion, a movement that would have a wide repercussion in a region where the Church has long exercised power .
The move would make it legal for women to terminate a pregnancy for up to 14 weeks, and their fate appears to be in the hands of a handful of senators who remain undecided or keep their position a secret.
The lower house of the Argentine Congress approved the bill earlier this month, by 131 to 117 votes. It also passed a similar bill two years ago, albeit by an even narrower margin of four votes, only to see it fail in the Senate 38-31.
Activists for the right to abortion are optimistic this time, largely because the bill was presented by the president, Alberto Fernández, and was one of his campaign promises, unlike 2018, when then president Mauricio Macri said he was personally against the legalization, but vowed not to veto the bill if it was approved.
“We are optimistic, but not triumphant,” said Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, Argentina’s Minister for Women, Gender and Diversity.
The president, vice president and many members of the executive branch have worked to strengthen support for the measure, said Mariela Belski, head of Amnesty International in Argentina. “The government really did its homework.”
If the bill is approved and signed by the president, Argentina will join Uruguay, Cuba and Guyana to legalize abortion upon request – rather than just in cases of rape or if pregnancy poses a risk to the mother’s health, as in case now in Argentina.
The Senate debate is expected to start late Tuesday afternoon and extend for many hours, perhaps until early Wednesday morning.
The voting intentions known to the senators indicate a virtual tie, according to an estimate by Amnesty International, which is likely to make the night a nail-biting affair for opponents and supporters. Two senators who should oppose legalization are unlikely to participate: José Alperovich is on leave after being accused of sexual assault and former President Carlos Menem was hospitalized.
The 2019 election won by Fernández also brought some new pro-legalization legislators to the Senate, but the vast majority of those who voted on Tuesday participated in the debate two years ago, making the ability of the president and his allies to persuade them senators who are on the fence are crucial to any victory.
To increase the potential drama, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the vice president, would cast the casting vote in the event of a tie. Fernández, also a former president, has long opposed the legalization of abortion, but said that a wave of feminist activism in Argentina, which has largely taken young women who took to the streets en masse to support the measure, changed her mind.
Pope Francis spoke out against the legalization movement, publicly praising a group of women from poor neighborhoods for their activism against abortion.
Some of those opposed to legalization have condemned the pressure exerted by the executive branch and said the country’s focus should be on other issues at a time when the coronavirus pandemic plunged an already weak economy into even more uncertainty.
“The vote is very tight and we are extremely disgusted with how this has become a political game,” said Rev. Rubén Proietti, head of the Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches in the Argentine Republic. “We cannot believe that this is a priority with all the problems that the country currently has.”
Just as activists for the right to abortion have become more organized in the two years since the bill failed in Congress, so have those who opposed the practice. The Catholic and Evangelical churches, which operated independently to defeat the legalization vote two years ago, have joined forces this time.
“We have been talking from the beginning,” said Proietti.
Activists on both sides of the issue plan to surround Congress overnight, Tuesday through Wednesday, to make their voices heard. Barriers were created to divide them and avoid conflicts.
The two sides intend to settle for a long night, awaiting a decision that is likely to have major repercussions in their own country and Latin America.
“Evangelical leaders in several countries are on the alert about what is going to happen in the Senate,” said Proietti. “What happens in Argentina is often replicated across the region.”