Backstreet abortions drive Argentina towards historic legalisation Religiously conservative Argentina set to become the largest country in Latin America to legalise abortion 12 December 2020 • 5:48pm Women celebrate the approval of the new abortion law in front of the Congress Credit: Juan Ignacio Roncoroni After three weeks in hospital it was the second heart attack that may have finally taken the life of Mariela, a mother and a wife from the Argentine province of Cordoba. Her death from sepsis early last month was caused by a backstreet abortion, the only way for many women in Argentina to terminate a pregnancy. She is thought to be the fourth and latest woman to die in Argentina this year from the clandestine procedure in a region with some of the strictest abortion laws in the world. Campaigners hope she will be the last.