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THOUSANDS of women demonstrated outside Argentina’s parliament yesterday to demand decriminalisation of abortion.
Crowds marched wearing green handkerchiefs, the symbol of the Argentinian pro-choice movement.
Llenamos las redes y el Congreso de verde.
— #AbortoLegalYA (@CampAbortoLegal) February 19, 2018
Ya no pueden hacer oídos sordos a un derecho fundamental.#AbortoLegalYa #Pañuelazo 19F pic.twitter.com/y0d7SVNdKH
The protest followed an online campaign day organised by the National Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe and Free Abortion when abortion rights rose to be the country’s top Twitter topic under the hashtag #AbortoLegalYa.
Many tweets stressed the need for a public debate on abortion, with some highlighting victimisation of pro-choice activists. Some women reported losing jobs after publicly advocating legalisation.
Under Argentinian law, abortions are illegal except in cases where pregnancy poses a danger to the woman’s life or health, or when it is the result of rape, incest or abuse.
The most common cause of maternal death in the country is complications arising from unsafe illegal abortions. The Health Ministry estimates there are between 300,000 and half a million such terminations annually. Even the lower figure would make abortions more than twice as common as in Britain, which has a higher population than Argentina and where abortions are legal.
More than 350 organisations presented a Bill decriminalising abortions to parliament in 2007, but it has never been voted on.
Women’s Plenary Organisation leader Vanina Biasi said decriminalisation would not increase the number of terminations but would reduce the number of women dying. She said neither the right-wing government of Mauricio Macri nor the previous Cristina Fernandez administration had been prepared to consider decriminalisation.
“We know they will only listen to us when there are more and more of us on the streets,” she said.
Campaigners warn the situation is likely to become worse as the country’s sex-education programme takes a battering. Mr Macri’s first budget slashed funding for the scheme and his government has proposed introducing religious exemptions that allow teachers to refuse to deliver sex education.
