In August of last year, a group of Argentine activists spearheaded a national campaign to legalize abortion during the first fourteen weeks of pregnancy. The movement emerged as a result of the upcoming vote of a pro-choice bill in the Argentine Senate, which had been previously approved by the Chamber of Deputies. The legislation was presented as a way to reform reproductive health laws in the Austral nation, which currently allows abortions only in cases of rape and health complications.



In the weeks leading up to the Senate vote, thousands of supporters of the bill flooded the streets of Buenos Aires, withstanding the unforgiving southern hemisphere winter. They signaled their support by wearing green handkerchiefs and other items, such as green makeup, wigs, and scarfs. Pro-life activists were also present during the demonstrations, indicating their support with light blue handkerchiefs. Notably, they were supported by Pope Francis, who is Argentinian.



After several days of rallying outside of the national parliament, the abortion bill was rejected by the Senate. 38 senators voted against and 31 in favor. This outcome provoked extreme reactions among pro-choice activists, as several decided to start fires and aim missiles at the Argentinian police.



On a deeper level, this vote, which was actively observed throughout the continent, brought to light an uncomfortable conversation about abortion that Latin Americans were not willing to have before.



In Argentina alone, tens of thousands of women are hospitalized each year as a result of illegal abortions, resulting in several deaths. In countries with total bans, such as Nicaragua, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic, low-income women seeking illegal abortions can be imprisoned for up to forty years. Overall in 2014, 900 women, a large majority of them from rural areas, died in Latin America because of dangerous abortion procedures. This lack of access to reproductive health care parallels the stark patterns of inequalities that exist in these countries. Currently, in Latin America, the only two nations that have fully legalized abortion are Uruguay and Cuba.



Despite these bleak statistics, Latin American is still largely under Catholic influence. Which means that a quick and definite answer to the abortion debate will be difficult and on-going. However, the debate held last year in Argentina does provide some clarity. If anything, the green handkerchiefs proved that there’s still a lot of work yet to be done.



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Alejandro Castillo Alejandro is a sixteen-year-old student based in Managua, Nicaragua. He enjoys learning about social revolutions, Latin American culture, and cognitive science. In his free time, he can be found writing, listening to music and building robots with legos.

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