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 The proposal, which would expand abortion rights beyond current laws
that allow the procedure only in cases of rape or when the mother's
health is at risk, passed the lower house last month by 129 votes to
125.
Since then religious activists, particularly in rural parts of the
country, have pushed back against the measure, which is backed by
feminists and rights groups galvanized in recent years by efforts to
stop violence against women.
The bill would make Argentina the third country in Latin American to
broadly legalize abortion, after Uruguay and Cuba.
The about-face by Senator Silvina García Larraburu brought to 37 the
number of expected no votes, amounting to a majority in Argentina's
72-member Senate.
An ally of former President Cristina Kirchner, Garcia Larraburu
accused President Mauricio Macri of using the abortion debate as a
distraction from the country's troubled economy, a charge Macri's
government denies. Kirchner may run for president next year, when
Macri is expected to seek re-election.
Garcia Larraburu told local media her change of mind "also has to do
with my most intimate convictions."
The bill, which would allow abortion through the first 14 weeks of
pregnancy, may be amended by the Senate and sent back to the lower
house.
The measure is supported by advocates who want an end to the
unregulated abortions that, according to government data, are the
country's leading cause of maternal mortality.
The proposal emphasizes the danger that poor women face in seeking
the procedure under secret, illegal conditions.
When he opened the 2018 session of congress in March, Macri said
that although he was against abortion, the time had come to debate
the issue and that he would sign the bill if it were approved by
Congress. Members of the leftist opposition, as well as Macri's
conservative coalition, are divided on the issue.
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Vice President Gabriela Michetti has come out against the bill,
which languished for years in Congress before a strong women's
rights lobby was forged during the national outcry over the 2015
murder of a 14-year-old girl.
The murder case galvanized the women's rights movement and shored up
support for the abortion bill. Activists in favor of decriminalizing
abortion have marched in front of Congress wearing costumes from
"The Handmaid's Tale," a book and television series, about the
oppression of women.
Other advocates of decriminalization use green bandannas to identify
themselves in massive marches throughout the country. Green is the
color adopted by Argentina's women's rights movement. The scarves
are emblazoned with white lettering: "Sex education to decide.
Contraceptives to avoid abortion. Legal abortion to avoid death."
Opponents of the bill wear blue head scarves as their emblem; blue
being the color of the Argentine flag and the country's official
religion, Catholicism.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of opponents of the bill demonstrated
around Buenos Aires' mid-town obelisk, shutting down traffic on the
city's main thoroughfare Avenida 9 de Julio.
"There are options other than abortion. Plenty of people want to
adopt. Why take an innocent life?" Celia Klappenback, a 75-year-old
retiree, told Reuters at Saturday's rally.
The fact that Pope Francis comes from Argentina makes the measure a
symbol of the challenge the Catholic Church faces in influencing
public policy in the region and around the world.
Since 2000, 28 countries have changed their abortion laws. All but
Nicaragua expanded legal provisions for the operation, according to
New York-based Human Rights Watch, which supports the bill, calling
it "a public health and human rights imperative."
(Reporting by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Alistair Bell and Daniel
Wallis)
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