Argentina has legalized abortion
December 30, 2020 7:12 AM Subscribe
Argentina on Wednesday became the largest nation in Latin America to legalize abortion, a landmark vote in a conservative region. The high-stakes vote in the Senate gripped the nation into the early morning, and the measure’s approval — by a wider-than-expected tally of 38 to 29, with one abstention — came after 12 hours of often dramatic debate, exposing the tensions between the long-dominant Roman Catholic Church, whose influence is waning, and a growing feminist movement.
Primarily it was a win for Argentina’s grass-roots abortion-rights advocates, who have recently paved the way for other deep shifts in the country’s cultural and political landscape — including marriage equality, gender parity initiatives and transgender rights — and made Argentina a bellwether of changes that have gained broader traction in the region.
Primarily it was a win for Argentina’s grass-roots abortion-rights advocates, who have recently paved the way for other deep shifts in the country’s cultural and political landscape — including marriage equality, gender parity initiatives and transgender rights — and made Argentina a bellwether of changes that have gained broader traction in the region.
What an amazing success, my sincere congratulations to the people of Argentina and especially gratitude to the advocates and activists whose work made this happen. This is a wonderful step forward (and puts Argentina socially ahead of the U.S. on this, where we still lack a specific, national legal right to abortion).
posted by LooseFilter at 8:18 AM on December 30, 2020 [18 favorites]
posted by LooseFilter at 8:18 AM on December 30, 2020 [18 favorites]
Huge win for our friends on the other side of the Andes. Let's hope it spreads.
posted by signal at 9:09 AM on December 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by signal at 9:09 AM on December 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
Argentina’s legalization of abortion was a striking rebuke of Pope Francis, who injected himself into the bitter political debate in his homeland on the eve of the vote
Oops. He couldn't keep being non-awful about everything, I suppose.
But yay for civil rights! ¡Ni Una Menos!
posted by XMLicious at 11:52 AM on December 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
This is a wonderful step forward (and puts Argentina socially ahead of the U.S. on this, where we still lack a specific, national legal right to abortion).
totally agree with the sentiment but not quite right legally. under american law, congress probably could not pass a statute barring the states from making their own laws banning abortion. congress's power to override state laws is limited (e.g. to issues involving interstate commerce) and all other lawmaking devolves to states as sovereigns. there's a complex area of constitutional law about when congress can supersede the states, and this one would be a stretch.
that's why it was so important for roe to hold that the right to abortion was based in the federal constitutional right to privacy, which does bind the states.
posted by wibari at 12:11 PM on December 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
totally agree with the sentiment but not quite right legally. under american law, congress probably could not pass a statute barring the states from making their own laws banning abortion. congress's power to override state laws is limited (e.g. to issues involving interstate commerce) and all other lawmaking devolves to states as sovereigns. there's a complex area of constitutional law about when congress can supersede the states, and this one would be a stretch.
that's why it was so important for roe to hold that the right to abortion was based in the federal constitutional right to privacy, which does bind the states.
posted by wibari at 12:11 PM on December 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
I had no idea that abortion is widely illegal in Latin America.
posted by Sterros at 2:03 PM on December 30, 2020
posted by Sterros at 2:03 PM on December 30, 2020
I am overjoyed! This is a huge victory for the movement, and the sheer amount of work it took to get to this point is staggering. That women have to fight so hard to gain even the most basic of rights is horrifying, but I'll celebrate the victories even though I think its obscene we have to fight for them.
2020 has its moments of triumph, it wasn't all bad and this is one of the better things to come from an otherwise mostly awful year.
posted by sotonohito at 2:34 PM on December 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
2020 has its moments of triumph, it wasn't all bad and this is one of the better things to come from an otherwise mostly awful year.
posted by sotonohito at 2:34 PM on December 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
Sterros I had no idea that abortion is widely illegal in Latin America.
That's the way it is anywhere that the Catholic Church is a major/dominant force in society. Given that 63% of Argentinians are Catholic it's really amazing the Ni Una Menos movement was able to get this done.
It's not wholly the Church of course, but they're a major factor in criminalizing abortion.
In some nations the restrictions are so broad that doctors often won't do prenatal work of any sort for fear that if the woman miscarries they might be accused of inducing an abortion. And in those nations the poorer women, and women of various minority groups, are prosecuted for miscarriage even if there's no reason to think they got an abortion. Naturally for wealthy or otherwise high social status women the law is simply not enforced even if they don't just jet off to a free nation for the procedure.
Suicide is the leading cause of death among pregnant women in many such nations.
Here's a map of the world color coded to show the legal status of abortion in those nations.
posted by sotonohito at 2:46 PM on December 30, 2020 [15 favorites]
That's the way it is anywhere that the Catholic Church is a major/dominant force in society. Given that 63% of Argentinians are Catholic it's really amazing the Ni Una Menos movement was able to get this done.
It's not wholly the Church of course, but they're a major factor in criminalizing abortion.
In some nations the restrictions are so broad that doctors often won't do prenatal work of any sort for fear that if the woman miscarries they might be accused of inducing an abortion. And in those nations the poorer women, and women of various minority groups, are prosecuted for miscarriage even if there's no reason to think they got an abortion. Naturally for wealthy or otherwise high social status women the law is simply not enforced even if they don't just jet off to a free nation for the procedure.
Suicide is the leading cause of death among pregnant women in many such nations.
Here's a map of the world color coded to show the legal status of abortion in those nations.
posted by sotonohito at 2:46 PM on December 30, 2020 [15 favorites]
Sterros, not only is abortion illegal but some women are criminally prosecuted for miscarriages. El Salvador is notorious, for example (CW: Rape).
posted by stillmoving at 3:29 PM on December 30, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by stillmoving at 3:29 PM on December 30, 2020 [6 favorites]
¡ES LEY! 🎉
posted by LMGM at 4:34 PM on December 30, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by LMGM at 4:34 PM on December 30, 2020 [6 favorites]
I was really glad to see this news.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:06 PM on December 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Dip Flash at 6:06 PM on December 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
Wonderful news! Congratulations to all the people who worked so hard for this - bravo!
posted by harriet vane at 2:46 AM on January 1, 2021
posted by harriet vane at 2:46 AM on January 1, 2021
There are "travel agencies" that treat your medical tourism to Mexico as they would a vacation trip. A friend of mine got a gastric bypass in Mexico last year and here's what happened. He flew from LAX to MEX and a bus picked him and other vacationers up from the airport. They drove the vacationers to their hotel and picked them up early the next morning to drive them to the hospital where they underwent surgery.
After the recovery period, the company picked them up and drove them to the airport where they caught their flights to LAX and back home from there.
And all of that was still less than the cost of an uninsured gastric bypass in the US.
This almost seems like another good market for medical tourism but then it's absolutely not, for even worse reasons than the the fact that the difficulty in getting an abortion in the US is all about the cost in both money and time.
Especially after the last four years I'm not even sure that the US deserves the moniker "The Greatest Country on Earth", nor do Canadians.
posted by bendy at 12:23 AM on January 2, 2021
After the recovery period, the company picked them up and drove them to the airport where they caught their flights to LAX and back home from there.
And all of that was still less than the cost of an uninsured gastric bypass in the US.
This almost seems like another good market for medical tourism but then it's absolutely not, for even worse reasons than the the fact that the difficulty in getting an abortion in the US is all about the cost in both money and time.
Especially after the last four years I'm not even sure that the US deserves the moniker "The Greatest Country on Earth", nor do Canadians.
posted by bendy at 12:23 AM on January 2, 2021
A much lower rung in fighting the #WarOnWomen, but:
Pakistan Provincial Court Bans Virginity Tests On Rape Victimsposted by XMLicious at 11:43 AM on January 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
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