Fernández Sagasti presented a bill so that pregnant senators can vote remotely

Union for the Homeland (UxP) senator Anabel Fernández Sagasti presented a bill this Monday so that pregnant senators can participate and vote remotely. The Mendoza representative promotes the initiative days after being disqualified from participating in the debate on the private property law, which took place on Thursday. Fernández Sagasti could not attend the chamber because she is 32 weeks pregnant. Initially, the opposition senator had requested an exceptional authorization to participate virtually since, by strict medical advice, she was prohibited from traveling to Buenos Aires. Although Vice President Victoria Villarruel issued a decree to authorize her remote participation, the measure was subject to validation by the full chamber. Anabel Fernández Sagasti with her partner announcing her pregnancy During the session, the head of the La Libertad Avanza (LLA) bloc, Patricia Bullrich, presented a motion to block the vote of the UxP legislator: "I want to motion that, according to article 227 of the Regulations, and based on the debate that became public regarding licenses, non-presential voting, and the parliamentary projects necessary to enable this issue, be discussed in the Institutional Affairs Committee." The plenary of the upper house decided, by a large majority, in favor of Bullrich's proposal, so the benefit was nullified. Consequently, four days later, Fernández Sagasti took to social media X and announced: "I presented a bill to modify the Senate regulations: that only senators with a medical contraindication to travel due to pregnancy can participate and vote remotely." Union for the Homeland (UxP) senator Anabel Fernández Sagasti presented a bill this Monday so that pregnant senators can participate and vote remotely Screenshot "It is a unique, objective, and limited criterion: medical certification proving pregnancy risk and travel contraindication. It is not an open door to any request. It is a specific exception, for a specific situation. No province should be left without part of its representation because of a situation like this. Distance cannot be a reason for a people to lose their voice in a key vote," she then said. The opposition legislator emphasized that her case is not the first nor will it be the last. "This is not the first time the Senate has decided this: we have held virtual sessions during the pandemic, with the approval of the Supreme Court (without changing the regulations). We know how to do it when we want." "This is not about my seat. It is so that in the future no senator has to choose between her pregnancy and representing her people," she insisted. The head of the La Libertad Avanza (LLA) bloc in the Senate, Patricia Bullrich Pilar Camacho And she concluded: "I would have liked to explain this in Thursday's session, in which I was connected, but I found out at the same time as you that the decree authorizing me to vote was being sent to a committee, mixed with another request that had nothing to do with it, by a show of hands and without discussion." National Senate Victoria Villarruel Patricia Bullrich