Embedded Files
Aubrey Hagen
Translation: No criminalization of women! Legalize abortion!
Unsafe abortion is a threat to women’s health throughout Latin America. In this article, I use unsafe abortion as a term inclusive of any abortion procedure done under clandestine (illicit or secret), self-induced, unsanitary, or unregulated circumstances (i.e. unlicensed practitioners) in countries where abortion is illegal. Currently, Cuba and Uruguay are the only countries in which abortion is legal without restrictions (Guttmacher Institute, 2018). Although abortion is illegal or restricted to extreme cases in the rest of Latin America, women with unintended pregnancies continue to pursue abortion services in secret, unfortunately with high financial and physical tolls. According to the International Health Policies website, an estimated 6.5 million abortions occurred each year between 2010 and 2014 in Latin America, “with 95% of them performed clandestinely in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, representing 10% of maternal mortality in the region” (Calderón & Decoster, 2017). Despite a trend towards increasingly progressive social policies in national governments across the region, legalized abortion is one progressive issue that has been left behind. However, feminist groups have assumed the strategy of drawing attention to gender-based violence against women as a means for inciting progress in decriminalizing abortion. One recent example of this is the pro-abortion coalition in Argentina that “piggybacked on the broader women’s rights movement” (Rubio, 2018). By using this coordinated long-term strategy, feminist mobilization has made the first steps towards increasing accessibility to abortion care, thus making progress towards increased safety and rights of women in Latin America.
Abortion Legality and Restrictions in Latin America
Historically, reproductive rights have increased as access to reproductive healthcare services has improved for women in Latin America, especially since family planning programming was rolled out in the 1960s. Research shows that increasing modern contraceptive prevalence rates throughout the region have corresponded to decreasing fertility rates, falling from 5-6 children per women to just 2.2 (Fagan et al., 2017). Thus, although abortion is illegal in the majority of Latin American countries, women do have access to some reproductive rights. Regionally and historically, we observe great variation in policies and opinions on reproductive rights. Abortion is an example of this heterogeneous pattern. Mala Htun traces the dynamic history of abortion access in her book Sex and the State, pointing out that Latin American abortion debates became more relevant during World War I, as an international movement for ‘“compassionate’ abortion [was] provoked by the widespread rapes of women by invading armies during World War I” (2003, p. 145). Thus, due to sexual violence, “Latin American countries were among the first in the world to permit abortions for women who had been raped” (Htun, 2003, p. 144). At this point in time, the Catholic church in Latin America had yet to take a strong stance against abortion.
Another noteworthy outlier in the history of legal abortion in Latin America is Salvador Allende, socialist president of Chile, who was one of the first prominent political figures to support abortion (del Campo, 2008). Allende incorporated analysis of illegal abortion into his thinking on social medicine, as he realized the exacerbated maternal mortality rate derived from abortions and their complications among working-class women (Waitzkin, 2004). A Chilean law instituted in 1931 permitted abortion when carrying a woman’s health was endangered (also known as therapeutic abortion), but only during Allende’s presidency (1970-1973) did physicians interpret the law “to include abortions up to the 12th week of pregnancy” (Casas & Vivaldi, 2014, p. 71). However, the Pinochet government repealed this law and banned all abortions in Chile in 1989 (Htun, 2003).
Opposition to legal, safe abortion in Latin America is complex, as opposing groups include the Catholic church, political conservatives, several Indigenous groups, and some medical associations/doctors. Thus, feminist organizations have to contend cultural stigma, religious opposition, conservative politics, and scientific reasoning in their mission of decriminalizing abortion. The Catholic church has taken a hard stance against abortion in any scenario, which impacts attitudes towards abortion and the pro-choice movement profoundly due to the church’s long history of political and social influence throughout Latin America.
Doctors and medical associations also have a prominent voice and influence in abortion policy. For example, the abortion legislation that came to a vote in Argentina in 2018 brought out doctors in support of and opposing the bill. During the lead up to the vote in Argentina, a group called “Médicos por la Vida” (Doctors for Life) spoke against legalization of abortion on the basis that life begins at conception (Safatle, 2018). In contrast, a medical association, “la Sociedad Argentina de Medicina” gave their support to the decriminalization of abortion in Argentina in 2018 (the bill ultimately failed to pass) (TN, 2018). Support from the medical community is divided throughout Latin America, and it is possible that unifying more doctors in support of legal abortion could influence legislation decriminalizing this vital healthcare service.
Pro-Choice Protest in Brazil
Research shows that unsafe abortion is “widespread and commonly practiced at dangerously high rates among poor, young, and ethnic minority women who bear the brunt of the physical and social costs” (Wurtz, 2012, p. 271). Htun offers evidence that, as of 2003, “13% of higher income urban women suffer from post-abortion complications, 44% of poor urban women and 54% of poor rural women suffer from complications” (2003, p. 155). Htun points out that the risks of unsafe abortion are less of a threat to upper class urban women, which can be attributed to their financial privilege that offers them accessibility to somewhat safer services or the ability to afford raising a child (2003). Htun theorizes that abortion is thus of little to no concern of politicians in Latin America, since they have little to gain from supporting legislation that impacts a small margin of their voters (2003). In fact, there have been several instances of abortion legislation gaining remarkable momentum in the public and making it to national lawmakers, but there has yet to be progress in policy outside of Uruguay.
A sexual violence awareness brochure cover from PROMSEX (Peru)
While legislation on abortion has yet be passed in the rest of Latin America, progress in abortion decriminalization is evident in social mobilization around the issue. Feminist organizations have made great strides by taking a new strategy to gather support for legal abortion. One such movement is called “Ni Una Menos” (Not one women less), which has brought attention to the prevalence of sexual violence against women in Latin America as a means of starting a “broader social movement on behalf of women’s rights” (Rubio, 2018). Through this mobilization, a bill on abortion made it to a vote in the House and Senate in Argentina, but was unfortunately rejected in the Senate (Rubio, 2018). This should not be perceived as only a defeat though, as this movement demonstrated that framing the issue as being about violence towards women is a successful method for chipping away at abortion restrictions and gaining support for women who are survivors of violence and deserve the right to an abortion. PROMSEX, a Peruvian feminist organization, is a part of a coalition campaign called “Dejala Decidir” (Let Her Decide) with the goal of decriminalizing abortion in the case of rape (International Women’s Health Coalition). PROMSEX promoted expanded access to abortion by campaigning on the issue of gender-based violence in Perú, "where 1 in 5 women are victims of sexual violence before the age of 15, and where 9 out of 10 pregnancies of girls under the age of 15 are the product of incest” (Calderón & Decoster, 2017). While this movement has not resulted in new legislation as of yet, they effectively demonstrated that they have the public’s support. As of September 2013, feminist activists had gathered nearly 100,000 signatures in support of decriminalization of abortion in cases of rape.
Uruguay succeeded in 2012 in legalizing abortion without restrictions before 12 weeks gestational age, albeit requiring a 5-day waiting period after requesting the procedure (Wood et al., 2016). Feminist activism was imperative to this milestone for women’s rights, as feminists in Uruguay worked strategically to form alliances and build a coalition of support from the labor movement, universities, and the healthcare sector (Wood et al., 2016). Blofield and Ewig argue that “the legalization of abortion on demand in 2012 required persistent feminist mobilization combined with an institutionalized left party in power in both the executive and congress. At the same time, opponents could and did contest reform at every opportunity, delaying passage and influencing the final content” (2017, p. 493). Abortion in Uruguay was framed as a public health issue that threatened the lives of mothers due to clandestine and unsafe abortion usage despite its illegality. Progress was gradually made in ensuring pre- and post-abortion counseling and services to women who had unintended pregnancies, and policy was finally passed and enacted that provides safe abortion services to women. The case of Uruguay provides an opportunity for scholarly research into what specific contextual factors and feminist strategies coincided to allow the success of abortion legalization in the country.
According to Wood et al., “More than any other single factor, it was the skill, commitment and persistence of the feminist movement that was responsible for change in Uruguay” (2016, p. 106). It is without a doubt that women’s social mobilization is responsible for the progress and changes in abortion policy, stigma, and culture that have ensued in Latin America. Feminist scholars Mala Htun and Laurel Weldon studied this very phenomenon, and they concluded from their analysis that “the most important and consistent factor driving policy change is feminist activism…Violence against women is rarely raised as an issue, much less as a priority, without pressure from feminists” (Weldon & Htun, 2013). Feminist mobilization has made unrestricted, decriminalized abortion a possibility in the near-future throughout Latin America by utilizing education, coalitions, and strategic policy formation. However, it is clear that feminists and advocates of reproductive justice have their work cut out for them due to the various opposition groups that influence opinions and legislation on abortion throughout Latin America. Despite the long road ahead in legalizing abortion, we must give recognition to the women who are driving progress in preventing violence against women and allowing women the rights to make choices about their own bodies without unnecessarily or further threatening their physical well-being with unsafe abortion.
Additional Sources
Aborto, religión y democracia: Irlanda y Argentina en perspectiva comparada
The Clandestine Epidemic: The Practice of Unsafe Abortion in Latin America
Latin America's fight to legalise abortion: the key battlegrounds
Argentine doctors protest legal abortion ahead of key vote
Doctors in Peru Become Strong Champions of Safe and Legal Abortion
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