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BUENOS AIRES — Argentina’s Senate is on the verge of a vote that might flip the Catholic nation, homeland of Pope Francis, into the most important nation in Latin America to legalize abortion, a transfer that will reverberate broadly in a area the place the church has lengthy wielded energy.
The measure would make it authorized for girls to finish pregnancies of as much as 14 weeks, and its destiny seems to relaxation within the fingers of a handful of senators who stay undecided or are preserving their place underneath wraps.
Argentina’s decrease home of Congress permitted the invoice earlier this month, by 131 to 117 votes. It additionally permitted an identical invoice two years in the past, albeit by an excellent narrower four-vote margin, solely to have it fail within the Senate, 38-31.
Abortion-rights activists are optimistic this time, largely as a result of the invoice was launched by the president, Alberto Fernández, and was one among his marketing campaign guarantees, not like in 2018, when then-president Mauricio Macri stated he was personally in opposition to legalization however vowed to not veto the invoice if it was permitted.
“We are optimistic, but not triumphalist,” stated Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, Argentina’s minister of girls, gender and variety.
The president, the vp and lots of members of the chief department have been working to bolster assist for the measure, Mariela Belski, the top of Amnesty International in Argentina, stated. “The government has really done its homework.”
If the invoice goes by way of, and is signed by the president, Argentina would be a part of Uruguay, Cuba and Guyana in making abortion authorized on request — as a substitute of solely in instances of rape or if the being pregnant poses a danger to the mom’s well being, as is the case now in Argentina.
The debate within the Senate is anticipated to start out late afternoon on Tuesday and go on for a lot of hours, maybe into early Wednesday morning.
The identified voting intentions of senators point out a digital tie, in accordance with an estimate by Amnesty International, which is able to doubtless make the night a nail biter for opponents and supporters. Two senators who have been anticipated to oppose legalization are unlikely to participate: José Alperovich is on go away after he was accused of sexual assault and former president Carlos Menem has been hospitalized.
The 2019 election received by Mr. Fernández additionally introduced a couple of new pro-legalization lawmakers into the Senate, however the overwhelming majority of these voting on Tuesday participated within the debate two years in the past, making the flexibility of the president and his allies to influence these senators who’re on the fence essential to any victory.
Adding to the potential drama, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the vp, would forged the deciding vote within the case of a tie. Ms. Fernández, additionally a former president, had lengthy opposed legalizing abortion, however stated {that a} surge of feminist activism in Argentina, led largely younger ladies who took to the streets in droves to assist the measure, had modified her thoughts.
Pope Francis has spoken up in opposition to the legalization drive, publicly praising a ladies’s group from impoverished neighborhoods for his or her activism in opposition to abortion.
Some of those that oppose legalization decried the stress being exerted by the chief department, and stated the nation’s focus ought to be on different points at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has plunged an already weak economic system deeper into uncertainty.
“The vote is very tight and we are extremely disgusted by how this has turned into a political game,” stated the Rev. Rubén Proietti, the top of the Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches of the Argentine Republic. “We can’t believe this is a priority with all the problems that the country has right now.”
As abortion-rights activists have turn into extra organized within the two years because the invoice failed in Congress, so have these against the observe. The Catholic and evangelical church buildings, which operated independently to defeat the legalization vote two years in the past, have joined forces this time.
“We have been in talks from the beginning,” Mr. Proietti stated.
Activists on either side of the difficulty are planning to encompass Congress in a single day, from Tuesday to Wednesday, to make their voices heard. Barriers have been set as much as divide them and stop battle.
Both sides intend to settle in for an extended night time, as they watch for a choice more likely to have nice repercussions in their very own nation and throughout Latin America.
“Evangelical leaders in several countries are on the alert about what will happen in the Senate,” Mr. Proietti stated. “What happens in Argentina is often replicated across the region.”
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