Buenos Aires - The Argentinian parliament on Wednesday began a
historic debate on the legalization of abortion in the country where
illegal terminations are an important cause of maternal deaths.
It took pro-choice activists eight attempts to bring the matter to
parliament.
Argentina currently allows a pregnancy to be ended only in cases of
rape or risk to the mother's life.
The proposed legislation would allow abortion in the first 14 weeks
of pregnancy.
The law would also allow doctors to refuse to perform abortions if
they so wish. Girls aged between 13 and 16 years would need
permission from an adult to abort.
The Chamber of Deputies was expected to vote on the proposed
legislation on Thursday, according to media reports.
If the majority of deputies support the bill, it would still have to
be approved by the Senate.
The vote was expected to be tight as the debate on abortion has
deeply divided Argentinian society.
The Catholic Church opposes the initiative, with Cardinal Mario Poli
saying that "the foremost duty of a state is to protect the life of
its inhabitants."
But Mario Negri, the head of President Mauricio Macri's parliamentary
group, said that the criminalization of abortion had "failed."
He called on the state to "give answers to this drama which
challenges us as a society."
Both pro-choice and pro-life groups demonstrated outside parliament
on Wednesday.
Argentina recorded 245 cases of maternal mortality in 2016, according
to official figures quoted by the website Infobae. Of these, 43 were
due to abortions or miscarriages.