394 20. Engendering democracy and rights: the legalization of abortion in Argentina 1 Alicia Ely Yamin and Agustina Ramón Michel INTRODUCTION In the early morning of December 30, 2020, an outpouring of joy and relief erupted outside the Congress in Buenos Aires and across the country, in public plazas and private living rooms alike. The Senate had passed Law 27.610 after the Chamber of Deputies approved it some weeks earlier. The landmark Law 27.610 legalized abortion to the 14th week of pregnancy and thereafter under certain circumstances (risk to life/health, and rape). Together with the abor- tion law, Senators also passed a bill known as the “1,000-Day Plan,” which will provide com- prehensive health care and social support for pregnant women and mothers of young children. 2 The context for passing the law had been daunting. The COVID-19 pandemic was raging, with concomitant restrictions on people’s movement, and there was a crippling economic crisis. Many had given up on 2020, doubting whether abortion could be a priority. But in December of that year, newly elected President Alberto Fernández sent a draft of the bill to Congress thus fulfilling a promise made in his electoral campaign. 3 The Argentine feminist movement had successfully pushed the new government to honor its declared commitment to legalize “interrupción voluntaria del embarazo” (voluntary interruption of pregnancy, IVE, for its acronym in Spanish), and multi-party collaboration in the highly polarized legislature had made Argentina the largest country in Latin America to legalize elective abortion. 4 In a still heavily Catholic country that has an increasing presence of evangelical Christians and is situated in a region that has had some of the most restrictive laws in the world, abortion had long been a taboo in Argentina. Abortion also rested on various fault lines in a country faced with reconstructing democratic institutions and practices: between private morality and public policy; between political agendas and judicial review; between deference to medical authority and reproductive agency; and between social development and individual autonomy. Thus, it is unsurprising that this legal achievement came at the end of a long and winding 1 This chapter draws on a longer and similar article: Alicia Ely Yamin and Agustina Ramón Michel, “Using Rights to Deepen Democracy: Making Sense of the Road to Legal Abortion in Argentina,” Fordham International Law Journal 46 (forthcoming 2023). We are grateful to Alison Roberts and Amanda Wibben for their assistance in preparing this chapter for publication, as well as Salomé Garnier and Dana Repka for their work on earlier iterations. 2 Ley de Acceso a la interrupción Voluntaria del Embarazo y a la atención postaborto, Argentina Law No. 27.610 (2020). 3 “Alberto Fernández, participó de la presentación del libro ‘Somos Belén’ sobre el derecho al aborto,” Télam Digital, November 14, 2019, www.telam.com.ar/notas/201911/408864-alberto-fernandez -participo-de-la-presentacion-del-libro-somos-belen-sobre-el-derecho-al-aborto.html, accessed March 23, 2022. 4 “Aborto Legal 2020: Alberto tenés un atraso,” Cuartopoder Salta, September 29, 2020, https:// cuartopodersalta.com.ar/aborto-legal-2020-alberto-tenes-un-atraso/, accessed March 23, 2022. Alicia Ely Yamin and Agustina Ramón Michel - 9781839108150 Downloaded from PubFactory at 04/03/2023 04:48:34PM via Harvard University