Argentina has become the biggest country in Latin America to legalize abortion.
Until now, abortions were only permitted in cases of rape or when the mother’s health was at risk.
The Senate voted to allow abortion through to the 14th week of pregnancy, in the face of fierce opposition from Argentina’s powerful Catholic Church, which says the practice violates the right to life.Pro-choice campaigners erupted in celebration outside the senate building in Buenos Aries as the change in the law was announced.‘We did it, sisters. We made history. We did it together.
There are no words for this moment, it passes through the body and the soul,’ says Monica Macha, a lawmaker with President Alberto Fernandez’s center-left ruling coalition which supported the law.The contentious vote passed with 38 in favor, 29 against, and one abstention.
The ruling could spark a wider movement to legalize the practice across Latin America, which is home to some of the strictest abortion laws in the world.
