Argentina’s Senate on Wednesday opened a debate on the legalisation of abortion.
The senate opened the debate ahead of a vote on whether to allow it until the 14th week of pregnancy after more than a decade of campaigning by feminist groups.
The lower chamber of parliament approved the draft legislation in June.
But the Senate has the final word, and it was expected to reject the legislation, with 38 of the 72 senators believed to oppose it.
It was also considered possible that the Senate would make changes to the legislation which would then return to the Chamber of Deputies.
Thousands of people gathered in front of the Congress building.
The square was divided between pro-abortion campaigners wearing green scarves and opponents wearing blue ones.
“We are fighting for our rights and our freedom,’’ the organisers of the pro-abortion campaign said earlier.
But Buenos Aires Archbishop, Mario Poli, said that abortion would “leave defenceless and vulnerable human beings that are being gestated with no way out”.
Argentina currently allows a pregnancy to be terminated only in cases of rape or risk to the mother’s life.
The new legislation would allow women to abort at public hospitals free of cost until the 14th week of pregnancy.
President Mauricio Macri encouraged parliament to debate the issue, despite saying that he personally was “in favour of life”.
Civil society organisations have estimated that 500,000 illegal abortions are performed annually in the South American country, though experts have questioned the figure.
Illegal abortions are regarded as an important cause of maternal mortality in Argentina.
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