THOUSANDS of Argentine women marched yesterday in defence of the recently acquired right to abortion, which they fear will be endangered if Javier Milei wins presidential elections next month. 

Abortion was legalised in the South American country three years ago, but 52-year-old political outsider Milei has described the procedure as murder and vowed to ban it. 

Dressed mainly in green, the colour of the abortion rights movement, women marched through the Buenos Aires city centre on International Safe Abortion Day to the president’s office and parliament. 

“We are gathered to defend women’s rights, because we fear a setback depending on the outcome of the elections,” said Martha Gazzano, a 47-year-old psychologist marching with her daughter, 15.

Milei unexpectedly surged to the front of the presidential race in primary elections last month. 

Ultraliberal on the economy and socially conservative, he remains ahead in polls.

“Obviously a woman has rights over her own body, but the child is not part of her body,” he has said on the topic of abortion, which he said would be put to a referendum if he wins. 

Argentina legalised abortion in 2020 until the 14th week of pregnancy. It was previously allowed only in cases of rape or if the woman’s life was at risk. 

In Latin America, the only other countries where elective abortion is legal are Colombia, Cuba and Uruguay.

In Peru, hundreds of women with green scarves marched to the Palace of Justice in Lima to demand the procedure be made legal. – AFP, September 29, 2023.