Buenos Aires, February 12 (RHC)-- Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez has emphasized the need to legalize abortion in this nation as a fierce debate over a bill he plans to introduce in parliament is dividing the country.

In an almost hour-long interview with Radio Continental, Fernandez said he would send in March a bill on abortion to Congress that would include decriminalization and legalization of this method of safe interruption of pregnancy.

"As I have already said a thousand times, it must be decriminalized and legalized so that all women have access to public health and receive adequate care," he added after recalling that criminalizing it as it is today forces women to do it clandestinely, generating an extreme risk for their health.

The president denounced the "hypocrisy of Argentinian society," referring to the protest the church has called for on March 8, since women still aborted no matter how legal or illegal was the practice.

On August 9, 2018, the Argentinian Senate knocked down a bill previously approved by the Lower Chamber that proposed the decriminalization of abortion until the 14th week of gestation​​​​​, despite thousands women protesting for their rights.