Each year, comprehensive abortion care could save the lives of up to nearly 39,000 women and prevent related health complications for 5 million women worldwide. A multicountry survey on the implementation of comprehensive abortion policies in Latin America and the Caribbean found that safe abortions and quality post-abortion care in the region is limited by some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world. As a result, the issue remains a major health and policy challenge in the region.
In this context, Argentina has taken a historic step for sexual and reproductive health and rights by legalizing abortion. Law 27.610, Access to Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy and Post-Abortion Care, has been enforced since January 2021. It allows anyone to request an abortion before 14 weeks of pregnancy and entails no time limit in cases of sexual assault or when the life of the applicant is in danger. In addition, the necessary information and methods to facilitate this process must be made available free of charge by public and private health-care providers. The decriminalization of abortion is essential to the provision of quality, person-centered health care that ensures individuals the freedom to make decisions about their bodily autonomy and family planning.
Although this area of public policy has an important role in addressing health issues such as maternal mortality, unintended teenage pregnancies, and equity, further work is needed to develop strategies to implement the policy in all regions of the country. The 2022 annual report on the implementation of Law 27.610 revealed disparities in access to abortion based on geographic location and marginalized status.
In 2022, 96,664 abortions were performed in the public health sector
In 2022, 96,664 abortions were performed in the public health sector, resulting in a national abortion rate of 8.36 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age. However, the rate varied considerably across the provinces, from 3.93 in Corrientes to 13.23 in Buenos Aires City. In addition to regional disparities, cultural barriers further limit access to abortion for marginalized groups, including Indigenous communities. According to the 2022 census, nearly 3% of Argentina's population identifies as Indigenous or as descended from Indigenous peoples.
These communities often face cultural and ethnic biases that make it difficult to access abortion services. In response, initiatives such as the Feminisms: Indigenous, Peasant, and Afro-descendant Women for Abortion Rights in Argentina aim to provide culturally and linguistically tailored resources to ensure equitable access.
Civil society groups are also addressing other gaps. For example, Socorristas en red (Network of Rescuers) developed the Trans-Inclusive Abortion Services Manual, an adaptation of the work of Canadian researcher A. J. Lowik. This manual promotes practices to ensure that trans and nonbinary people receive appropriate abortion care.
Facilitators of Implementation and Abortion Care Provision
After decades of debate and a previous attempt to address the issue through a bill that was ultimately rejected by the Argentine National Congress in 2018, the law was finally passed in 2020. In addition to the will of politicians and the efforts of many social and health professionals who worked to provide safe abortions despite the risk of prosecution, one of the most important factors in shaping the political prioritization of this law in Argentina was the mobilization of citizens.
The feminist movement in Argentina is one of the oldest in Latin America and has pioneered legislation such as women's suffrage, equal rights, and child protection. The decriminalization of abortion became the main banner of the movement, now known as the Green Wave. This name comes from the green bandanas that symbolize the fight for women's rights, which became characteristic of the movement and were adopted by other countries in Latin America and Europe, as well as by the United States.
These massive public and civil society mobilizations helped put abortion on the political agenda. Many Argentine lawmakers changed their minds after being challenged by the massive green wave that took to the streets to fight for their gender, sexual, and reproductive rights, which greatly facilitated the passage of the abortion law. In addition, the publicity surrounding the law has helped reassure those seeking abortion care of their rights.
Proyecto Mirar (Looking Forward), a group of professionals and researchers collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data on the implementation of the Argentine abortion law, has shown that the number of public providers offering abortion care has doubled between 2020 and 2023. The national average is now 17 public providers of legal and voluntary abortion per 100,000 women of reproductive age. These figures vary from province to province, however, and do not include important data such as level of complexity, response time to demand, territorial coverage, or their ability to respond to demand.
Barriers to Abortion Care Access
Some of the obstacles to the implementation of the law are financial, the stigma associated with abortion, the lack of qualified health workers—especially in rural areas—and conscientious objection and opposition from conservative and religious sectors, all of which hinder access to safe abortion. In addition, to date, the Argentine health system is decentralized, many providers operating independently. It is also fragmented in consisting of three subparts: the public sector, which is available to all and funded by taxes; the social security system (Obras Sociales), which is administered by unions and funded by payroll contributions; and the private sector, which is for out-of-pocket payments.
Although Argentina is one of the leaders in the Latin American region in terms of per capita health spending, this fragmentation does not help in coordinating the mechanisms of management and financial cooperation across the three health subsectors. This is reflected in the implementation of the abortion law as well as in the guarantee of the other practices and treatments.
This system often results in a lack of information, which can lead to confusion about payment for abortion services. Abortion seekers have reported that they are still expected to pay out of pocket for procedures such as ultrasound scans, which are necessary to make medical decisions to ensure a safe abortion, though they should be covered free of charge by health-care providers in the three subsectors. This barrier further limits access to safe abortion for those living in poverty and other marginalized people, such as immigrants and Indigenous people.
It is essential that legal, political, and programmatic barriers to access to safe abortion care be eliminated
Since 2023, Argentina has also been facing a new political atmosphere. In some speeches, Argentina's new president, Javier Milei, has questioned the legality of abortion and the legitimacy of feminism. To date, no authority has confirmed the Argentine Ministry of Health's commitment to the continuity of sexual and reproductive health services. In addition, the Enia Plan, which aimed to improve sexual and reproductive health services and strengthen policies to prevent sexual abuse and violence, and which succeeded in reducing teenage pregnancies by 50%, has been dismantled by the national government. However, President Milei has stated that "abortion is not on the government's agenda," leaving the future of further implementation of this law in a state of uncertainty.
Further Improvements
Laws that protect societies from lethal or irreversible biological and psychological consequences should be supported to achieve global health standards. In accordance with the World Health Organization's guidelines on safe abortion, it is essential that legal, political, and programmatic barriers to access to safe abortion care be eliminated.
To improve the policy implementation in Argentina, the Guttmacher Institute recommends training nonmedical personnel to provide unbiased abortion services, educating providers that conscientious objection does not allow them to refuse to perform life-saving abortions, keeping records of legal abortions in the public sector, and emphasizing public education campaigns to inform people about rights and family planning as key strategies.
Civil society organizations such as the Center for the Study of State and Society and the Network for Access to Safe Abortion, among many others, remain attentive to the new political context and propose the need for spaces for debate among intellectuals, professionals, researchers, and communicators. These conversations with key actors demonstrate that the campaign for sexual and reproductive rights is intact, underscoring the importance of maintaining the rights that have been won and allowing for discussion of ways to improve the implementation of the law throughout the country.
