Abortion Legalization Debated in Argentina as Brazil Faces Systemic Barriers to Reproductive Rights

This week, Argentina's Senate is set to vote on the legalization of abortion, following the Chamber of Deputies' approval and the mobilization of over one million women. In Brazil, abortion is permissible solely in instances of rape, threats to maternal health, or fetal anencephaly, as established in 1940. The first technical guidelines for public procedures from the Ministry of Health were created in 1999. In 2012, the Supreme Federal Court affirmed the right to terminate pregnancies involving anencephalic fetuses. By 2016, Hospital Pérola Byington accounted for roughly one-third of Brazil's legal abortions. A study by Débora Diniz revealed that from 2013 to 2015, only 2,442 out of 5,075 women seeking public abortions were successful, facing obstacles such as physician refusals and excessive documentation. Annually, Brazil sees an estimated 700,000 to one million abortions.