Thousands of people took to the streets in different locations in Argentina on Saturday to protest against a new bill that would decriminalize abortion in the country.
The protests, backed by both the Catholic and evangelical churches, were organized by around 150 civil society organizations. The biggest group marched in front of the Palace of the Argentine National Congress in Buenos Aires, where deliberations about the new bill would take place this week, AFP reported.
The protesters waved scarves that were colored blue, the color that identifies groups against abortion. They also carried signs with pro-life messages, such as "Save Both Lives!"
According to Jorge Gomez, executive director of Aciera, the Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches of Argentina, Saturday's protest was a "spontaneous outpouring."
On Nov. 17, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez presented a new bill to Congress that would make abortion legal. The move is seen as Fernandez's attempt to fulfill a campaign promise to decriminalize abortion in the predominantly Catholic country.
In presenting the bill, Fernandez said the state must help women in their "maternal projects," and that help includes "caring for the lives of those who decide to interrupt their pregnancy," according to Catholic News Service.
The proposed bill would allow abortion up to 14 weeks of pregnancy. The law only presently permits the termination of pregnancy at any stage in cases when the mother's life is in danger or when the mother is a victim of rape.
The bill would also provide child support assistance to financially challenged pregnant women to stop them from getting abortions because of economic reasons.
Religious groups expressed strong opposition to the new bill.
"There is no place for thinking of legislative projects that contradict the discourse that puts taking care of all Argentine as priority," the Argentine bishops' conference said in a statement.
"Not taking care of all lives, all throughout those lives, would be a very serious shortcoming for a state that wants to protect its inhabitants," they said.
The bishops also criticized the timing of the bill's presentation during a pandemic, saying it was "untenable and inappropriate."
They added that the state must protect all human life.
"The pandemic has alerted us that the state must ensure public health. That's to say, taking care of all human life," the statement continued.
On Nov. 22, Pope Francis, who hails from Argentina, wrote a letter urging women to protest the new bill. The pope emphasized that abortion is not simply about religion, but about human ethics.
"The problem of abortion is not primarily a question of religion, but of human ethics, first and foremost of any religious denomination," he said, according to the Daily Mail.
He also asked if it's right to solve a problem by killing a person.
"It is good to ask two questions: Is it fair to eliminate a human life to solve a problem? Is it right to hire a killer to solve a problem," he added.
The proposed bill is the ninth attempt by lawmakers to make abortion legal in Argentina. In 2018, a similar bill was presented to Congress, but the Senate rejected it.
