Security & Strategic Review - January 2021

On the penultimate day of 2020, Argentina became the largest Latin American country to legalise abortion. A bill tabled by President Alberto Fernández had been approved by the chamber of deputies on 11 December; on 30 December, the bill permitting elective abortions up to 14 weeks into the pregnancy passed the senate in a landmark vote. Pro-choice demonstrators who had been keeping vigil outside congress erupted in celebration of this historic advancement of women’s rights in the country, at a time when the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has further eroded the fight for gender equality.