Women have also gained a critical mass in Congress, able to shape the debate over abortion rights, since a quota law first reserved a third of legislative seats for them in the 1990s, and was later expanded to require parity. In this latest vote, and victory, legislators framed abortion rights as a matter of social justice and of public health — dozens of women die a year seeking abortions, according to Argentina’s Access to Safe Abortion Network. Lawmakers who changed their votes this time around to support legalization acknowledged that such framing had a big effect. “Beyond my personal position, of my beliefs, we are faced with a problem that requires a public health approach.”That framing also made the effort politically palatable for President Alberto Fernández, a leftist law professor elected in 2019, to make legalizing abortion a campaign promise and an early legislative priority. “In Argentina, safe abortion exists for those who can pay for it,” said Vilma Ibarra, the president’s legal and technical secretary, who drafted the bill.

Source: New York Times January 01, 2021 21:22 UTC