The long-time pro-life nation of Argentina approved to bill today in its House that would legalize abortion and allow killing unborn babies up to 14 weeks old.
The lower house of Argentina’s congress has approved a bill that would legalize elective abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, sending the measure to the Senate. President Mauricio Macri has said he’ll sign the bill if it’s approved. After a contentious debate, lawmakers voted 129-123 to legalize abortions.
If approved, Argentina will be the first nation to legalize abortion since a monumental vote in Ireland to overturn its 8th Amendment legal protections for unborn children. The homeland of Pope Francis would be one of the only nations in South America with legalized abortions.
Alfredo Olmedo, MP for Salta Somos Todos condemned the notion that abortions are somehow safe for women or children, saying, “They are calling it a safe, secure abortion; the only thing that is secure is that a child will die.”
Juan Manuel Pereyra, MP for Concertación Forja added: “Like the doctor Abel Albino said, the women does not have legal authority because it is not her body, it is within her body, which is not the same.”
And Alma Sapag, MP for Movimiento Popular Neuquino added: “When a pregnancy is interrupted, when someone makes a decision about the life of a thrid party, there is no going back. We cannot give the life back to the baby…Instead of legalising abortion, we should commit ourselves to facilitating adoption from the moment of conception and give special social security for the mother and child in a vulnerable situation.”
Currently, Argentina prohibits unborn babies from being aborted except in cases involving rape, severe disabilities or threats to the mother’s life.
Abortion activists claim women are dying from illegal abortions (though they die from legal ones as well). But former abortion activists say these numbers often are vastly over-inflated. Pro-lifers also contend that legalizing abortion does not make it safer for the woman, it only allows back alley abortionists to practice openly.
Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com
The South American country has faced some of the most violent pro-abortion protests in the world. In 2013, a mob of abortion activists allegedly attacked pro-life people who were praying at the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista in San Juan de Cuyo.
In October 2017, they staged another violent, topless protest to demand taxpayer-funded abortions and cultural acceptance of prostitution. Local news reports indicate the pro-abortion protesters threw rocks, a Molotov cocktail, bottles, tampons and feces, as well as balloons filled with paint. They also vandalized walls with messages such as “Death to the pope” and “Lesbianize yourself.”
LifeNews reported about similar violent protests in 2015 and March 2017.
Argentina, like many other South American countries, has been facing intense international pressure to legalize abortion. Human Rights Watch, which receives funding from American billionaire George Soros, has been pushing its abortion agenda on Argentina for years.
Some of the strongest voices for unborn babies in Argentina are people who realize they could have been aborted. A man named Christian shared his story with lawmakers in May.
He said his mother had been raped at a very young age and became pregnant with him. Rather than consider abortion, she made an adoption plan with a family who she knew would take good care of him, he said.
“The question we should ask ourselves today is not when does life begin, but rather how much is a life worth. Let’s all allow other babies to be born, as I was able to be born, because otherwise I would have been another aborted baby,” Christian said.
