Photos: Argentina passes landmark bill to legalise abortion

Pro-choice activists celebrated on the streets on December 30 as Argentina joined a handful of South American nations to legalise abortion, a landmark decision in a country where the Catholic Church has long held sway. After more than twelve hours of debate that began December 29, Senate president Cristina Kirchner confirmed the vote to legalise abortion. The new Argentine legislation will allow voluntary terminations up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, and was approved 38 to 29 with one abstention.

Updated on: Dec 31, 2020 6:02 PM IST

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Abortion-rights activists hold hangers, that symbolise illegal abortions, and signs reading in Spanish “Goodbye” after lawmakers approved a bill that legalises abortion, in Buenos Aires, Argentina on December 30. (Victor Caivano / AP)

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Argentine Vice-President and President of the Senate, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (C) looks on as senators debate an abortion bill in Buenos Aires on December 29. Senate president Kirchner confirmed the vote after more than twelve hours of debate that began on December 29, sparking scenes of jubilation in the capital Buenos Aires. (Matias Baglietto / REUTERS)

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Pro-choice activists celebrate after the Senate approved a bill to legalise abortion in Buenos Aires on December 30. “Safe, legal and free abortion is law ... Now we’re a better society that is increasing women’s rights and safeguarding public health,” President Alberto Fernandez, who sponsored the original bill, wrote on Twitter. (Emiliano Lasalvia / AFP)

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An aerial view shows anti-abortion activists (R) and abortion rights supporters (L) gathered outside the Palace of the Argentine National Congress as senators debate the landmark bill, in Buenos Aires on December 29. Hundreds of thousands of illegal terminations are carried out every year in Argentina with at least 3,000 women dying after backstreet abortions since the 1980s, Fernandez added. (Emiliano Lasalvia / AFP)

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People react when Argentina’s Senate votes to legalize abortion on December 30. The new legislation will allow voluntary terminations up to 14 weeks of pregnancy and was approved 38 to 29 with one abstention. (Argentine Senate via REUTERS)

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A pro-choice activist celebrates after the approval of Senate to legalise abortion, outside the Palace of the Argentine National Congress in Buenos Aires on December 30. “After so many attempts and years of struggle that cost us blood and lives, today we finally made history,” demonstrator Sandra Lujan, a 41-year-old psychologist, told AFP. (Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP)

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Nuns attend a demonstration against the decriminalisation of abortion, outside Palace of the Argentine National Congress in Buenos Aires on December 29. The bill in the country of 44 million succeeded despite strong opposition from Evangelical Christians and traditional Roman Catholics -- with Pope Francis tweeting his tacit disapproval of change ahead of the vote, AFP reported. (Marcos Brindicci / AP)

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Demonstrators in favour of legalising abortion celebrate after the approval of the bill in Buenos Aires on December 30. In Argentina, terminations were previously allowed in only two instances: rape, and danger to the mother’s life. (Flor Guzzetti / REUTERS)

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Abortion-rights activists gathered outside the Palace of the Argentine National Congress in Buenos Aires on December 29. Only Uruguay, Cuba and Guyana allow voluntary terminations in South America, which has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, AFP reported. In El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, abortion is banned, and women can be sentenced to jail even for having a miscarriage. (Anita Pouchard Serra / Bloomberg)