ARGENTINA moved closer to legalising abortion after a historic vote in the lower house today following a marathon parliamentary debate.

Pro-choice activists celebrated the announcement on the streets of Buenos Aires where demonstrations and vigils have taken place for the last few weeks under the banner “Not One More.”

The bill, which allows for abortions up to the 14th week of pregnancy, was passed by a narrow margin of 129 to 123 and will now make its way to Argentina’s Senate for approval.

It is a major step in a region with some of the world’s strictest abortion laws, taken just weeks after a referendum in Ireland voted to legalise terminations.

MPs debated through the night on the bill, which was opposed by the Catholic Church despite polls which suggested the move to legalise abortion was backed by around 70 per cent of the population.

Opposition Justicialist Party congresswoman Mayra Mendoza, one of the driving forces behind the bill, said: “We are dealing with a public health issue that cannot be addressed with blinkers, nor with morals and ethics and much less religion.

“This is also a matter of social justice.”