Last updated: 30 December 2020

"The state must protect its citizens in general, and women in particular. In the 21st century every society must respect the individual choice of every person to decide freely about their own body." With these words Alberto Fernández, president of Argentina since December 2019, declared in March his intention to send to Congress a bill to decriminalise and legalise abortion.

Argentina wants to legalise abortion: President Fernández's announcement in March

In his first inaugural address to Congress in early March, presenting the various legislative proposals expected during the year, Fernández included and announced the one that had been awaited for years: the legalisation of abortion as a matter of health and human rights. "I will introduce a bill on the voluntary termination of pregnancy that legalises abortion in the early period and allows women to access the healthcare system should they make the decision to have an abortion," he had said. He had been due to do so within a matter of days, but owing to the pandemic it was postponed until 17 November.

The current legislation is not effective. Since 1921 Argentina has penalised the voluntary termination of pregnancy in the majority of situations. One hundred years on, jurisprudence provides us with evidence of the ineffectiveness of this legislation from a preventive standpoint. Many women do not feel deterred by the penalty prescribed which, on the contrary, condemns many of them — especially those with limited financial means — to resort to clandestine abortion practices, putting their health and sometimes their lives at risk. Everyone knows what I am talking about. Abortion happens. It is a fact. And it is precisely that hypocrisy, which sometimes holds us back, that makes us fall into debates like this one.

Alberto Fernández, president of Argentina

The bill reaches Congress, and is passed on 11 December

The president kept his word and on 17 November presented a bill to legalise abortion in Argentina, together with another bill aimed at protecting the health of mother and child during the first thousand days of life.

We will also send Congress a bill establishing the "thousand-day plan", to guarantee comprehensive assistance and care for the life and health of pregnant women and their children. In this way we want to significantly reduce mortality and malnutrition rates, protect the first moments of life, neurological development and the health of mothers and their children in a comprehensive way.

Alberto Fernández, president of Argentina

11 December then saw the turn of the Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation, the lower chamber of Congress, which passed the bill with 131 votes in favour, 117 against and 6 abstentions. "We are convinced that this will offer a concrete response to an urgent structural public health problem," said Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, the minister for women, gender and diversity, opening the voting session. "It is time to stop looking the other way." The voting debate lasted throughout the day of 10 December, reaching its conclusion in the early hours of the morning of 11 December. Demonstrators had spent the night outside Congress waiting for the long-hoped-for result. Now the next step falls to the Senate, with a decision expected before the end of the year.