Argentina’s historic decision to legalize abortions will help spur reforms in Latin America, the country’s gender minister told the Guardian as a new law allows the practice to take effect.
The bill passed by Congress on Dec. 30 made Argentina the first major Latin American country to legalize abortion. It will be signed Thursday night by President Alberto Fernández, marking a turning point for a region where the Catholic Church has had a major cultural and political influence for centuries.
“We know there will be a lot of resistance in the rest of Latin America, especially from the Catholic Church and other churches,” Gender Minister Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta said in a Zoom interview.
‘The local conquest will take some time, but I get calls from officials in Mexico, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru. Progressive governments are returning to power in some countries, I am very confident that change will come. ”
Gómez Alcorta wore a green wristband with reference to the green scarf adopted as a symbol of Argentina’s women’s movement. “The legalization of abortions in Argentina will have an effect throughout the region,” Gómez Alcorta said. “We will paint Latin America green”.
Elective abortions are currently only legal in Uruguay, Guyana, Mexico City, and the Mexican state of Oaxaca. But preference activists have become increasingly vocal and there are signs that attitudes are starting to shift.
A recent poll in Mexico showed that support for access to abortion increased dramatically in 2020, from 29% in March to 48% in November.
The Argentine government has pledged to ensure that criminal charges are lifted and that sentences for more than 1,500 women and doctors accused of violating the ban are suspended.
“We have reports of 1,530 people being sentenced or charged, and we will try to make sure that the sentences are weakened and that the charges are dropped,” Gómez Alcorta said. The actual number of women who had to defy the law on clandestine abortions is likely to be much higher, she said, as information was only provided for 15 of the 24 provinces in the country.
The new law is likely to face legal challenges, but the minister said she was confident the country’s supreme court would uphold it.
Plans are also being put in place to overcome other types of resistance. “We know there will be resistance in the more conservative provinces where they can try to restrict access, so we are going to work to make sure women are informed about where they can go to get an abortion.”
The ministry will also ensure that legal abortions are available for free at clinics nationwide, as required by law. “There is certainly resistance from private medical insurance plans to offer free interventions, so we will keep an eye on that as well.”