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Argentina’s Senate is set to vote on an abortion bill that would greatly expand women's right to terminate their pregnancy within the country, and Irish senators are fully supportive of the measure.
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The South American country’s Senate received a letter on Tuesday from 60 Irish senators urging the 72-member upper house to vote ‘yes’ on the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy bill that will enable Argentine women to access to free, legal and safe abortions until up to 14 weeks of inception.
It is currently illegal for women in Argentina to have abortions performed save if her life is in danger, or if the pregnancy is the result of rape. The restrictive rules force approximately a half a million women in the country each year into clandestine abortive procedures, causing 3,000 of them to die since 1983.
The progressive move would put Argentina on par with its Catholic counterpart across the pond which, in late May, voted unanimously in a public referendum to allow abortions from anywhere between 12 and 24 weeks, depending on the case.
The 60 Irish parliamentarians said in their letter: "We are writing to urge them to support the bill submitted to the Argentine Senate that proposes to decriminalize abortion until 14 weeks of pregnancy and thus ensure women's access to safe abortion services."
The Irish lawmakers pointed out that "by continuing to criminalize abortion, the state is violating the human rights of women and girls."
The Irish politicians emphasized to the Argentine counterparts that abortion is a reality in both countries and keeping the operation illegal has not stopped it from taking place in either nation.
"In Ireland and Argentina, it is clear that criminalizing and prohibiting abortion has not stopped abortions. Instead, it has inflicted immense harm and cruelty on women and girls," said the Irish representatives.
"The final approval of the bill - and the lives of women and girls in Argentina - depends on your votes," the letter read.
President Mauricio Macri has said that if the Senate passes the bill he will sign it into law. The move would put Argentina on par with its Catholic neighbor Uruguay which also legalized abortions up to 14 weeks.
The bill has been put at risk of passing as Senator Silvina Garcia Larraburu from the Front for Victory coalition suddenly changed her voting decision from for to against. The about-face brings the number of expected 'no' votes to 37, a majority.
The Senate also has the right to amend the current version of the bill, which its commissions tried to do last week, but failed.
Leaders of the National Campaign for the Right to Free and Legal Legal Abortion said in a Tuesday press conference they are organizing to rally over two million abortion rights advocates to demonstrate in the streets of Buenos Aires on Wednesday in support of the bill.
“We know that legalized abortions will be the law in our country and the 8th we'll celebrate," stressed organizers. “The numbers are in our favor," they added.
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