Inside Argentina's Revolution of the Daughters

Inside Argentina’s Revolution of the Daughters

It was a biting cold night in Buenos Aires, but the raw temperatures did not discourage a million people to join the vigil before Congress last Wednesday. Over 22 hours of debate later, on the early morning of June 14—with 129 votes in favor, 125 votes against and 1 abstention—the nation’s lower chamber approved a bill that would legalize abortion during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. If the Senate approves it next month, Argentina will become the latest and largest country in Latin America where women can legally and safely pursue an abortion.


A woman wears a green outfit to show her support at an abortion rights protest. (Fotografías Emergentes / Creative Commons)

“There was always this thought, yes, this is happening, but also fear that the result could be no.” Carla Santángelo, editor at Índigo Editoras, arrived at the Congress square in the evening after watching the debate on television for a while. “The square was physically divided in two sides,” she recalls. On the right, a tide of green handkerchiefs had formed by those in favor of decriminalizing abortion; on the left, their opponents wore blue scarves. Santángelo arrived with some friends and met many others as hours passed on the green side. Cellphone signal was weak, but they used WhatsApp to keep each other updated on the vote taking place some meters away. Someone sent a photo of the square taken from a drone—the difference between the green and the blue was unmistakable.

“We already knew it,” Santángelo admits. “We already knew that whatever was happening in Congress in that moment, it was not going to be representative of what was happening outside. I don’t mean this yes is not representative—it is—but such a tight margin does not represent what was going on in the streets.” Poet and writer Nadia Sol Caramella wasn’t surprised by the number of people in the square when she arrived. The 2016 Women’s March, after all, drew 70,000 people. “But this time was special,” Caramella tells Ms. “I felt it was the day many feminists before us had long awaited—and many died without witnessing.”

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Not everyone on the floor of Congress was as eager to celebrate. One member compared women to dogs during debate, adding that the solution to unwanted puppies is giving them away instead of obtaining an abortion for the female. Another member cited the Bible. A Catholic cross made an appearance. “Honestly, we do not understand what have we done to deserve this void of logic and empiric arguments,” Caramella tells me, “this political obscurantism and disaffection.”

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http://msmagazine.com/blog/2018/06/20/inside-argentinas-revolution-daughters/