ZCZC
BFF-02
ARGENTINA-POLITICS
Thousands in Argentina march against new move to legalize abortion
BUENOS AIRES, Nov 29, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Thousands of anti-abortion
protesters, many of them mobilized by Catholic or evangelical groups,
demonstrated on Saturday across Argentina against a government-backed
new bill to legalize abortion.
The largest group congregated in Buenos Aires before the Congress,
which is expected in the coming week to begin debating legislation on
a matter that has bitterly divided the traditionally Catholic South
American nation.
Marchers around the country carried signs with slogans like “Save
Both Lives!” and “March for the Unborn.”
Jorge Gomez, executive director of Aciera, the Christian Alliance
of Evangelical Churches of Argentina, called it a “spontaneous
outpouring”.
Argentines who support women’s right to choose also called for
people to take to the streets.
The National Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe and Free
Abortion urged backers to “paint Argentina green in coming weeks” —
to wave green handkerchiefs as a symbol of women’s rights.
Gomez, however, said it was inappropriate for the draft legislation
to be taken up amid the ongoing pandemic and at a time when “Argentine
society needs unity to solve structural problems such as poverty.”
This will be the ninth time in majority-Catholic Argentina —
homeland of Pope Francis — that a bill to legalize abortion has been
presented in parliament.
On the last occasion, in 2018, it gained approval in the Chamber of
Deputies but was rejected in the Senate.
This will be the first time such legislation originated in the
country’s executive branch via a proposal from President Alberto
Fernandez.
Fernandez has said the new legislation would guarantee “that all
women have access to the right to comprehensive health care.”
Under a law first passed in 1920, Argentina permits abortions only
in cases of rape or danger to the life of the mother.
BSS/AFP/MRU/0830hrs