Analisi testo completa Linguistica inglese

Argentina abortion legalisation bill passes key vote

11 December 2020

Large crowds gathered outside Congress in Buenos Aires to watch the results of the vote. Politicians in Argentina have voted yes to a bill that brings the largely Catholic country one step closer to legalising abortion, a change long-sought by women's rights activists. Parliament's lower house voted in favour of the proposed law by 131-117.

Next steps for the bill

Before becoming law, the bill must also pass the upper house, the Senate. The vote is expected before the end of the year. Many women in Argentina who have an abortion can face prosecution. President Alberto Fernández proposed the bill which would permit abortions to be carried out up to the 14th week of pregnancy. Currently, abortion is only permitted in case of rape or if the mother's health is at risk from pregnancy.

Debate and vote details

The lower house passed the bill after debating for 20 hours on Thursday into Friday morning. The vote in the Senate is expected to be even tighter - in 2018 the body rejected a similar bill to legalise abortion after the lower house voted in favour.

Reactions to the vote

"I am a Catholic but I have to legislate for everyone," President Fernández said on Thursday. "It is a very serious public health issue." On Thursday the Roman Catholic Church repeated its opposition to abortion, asking politicians in Argentina for "a second of reflection on what respect for life means". By contrast, the Women, Gender and Diversity minister Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta tweeted after the vote: "We have written a new chapter in our history."

Consequences of current abortion restrictions

About 38,000 women a year require hospital treatment because of dangerous abortion procedures performed in secret, according to the Argentine government. Thousands are estimated to have died after unsafe abortion since 1983.

Text type and purpose

An expository text is a type of text that aims to inform the reader, to enrich his knowledge on a given subject. It usually provides the relevant information in a clear and orderly manner, through an objective sharing of facts, ideas, or concepts. This is an expository text because it informs the reader about the legalisation of abortion in Argentina and about various problems that there were before this legalisation such as the death of many women and the various health problems related to abortion. It gives relevant information in a clear and orderly manner and also there is a sharing of the facts and what happened in previous years.

Microfunctions

Is the performance of an utterance, the actual locutionary act -> utterance, and its apparent meaning, comprising any and all of its verbal, social, and rhetorical meanings, all of which correspond to the