‘Ghosts from the past’: fears of abortion setback after Milei wins in Argentina

Newly elected president and far-right libertarian has vowed to repeal country’s 2020 landmark legalisation of abortion

Ashifa Kassam and Josefina Salomón in Buenos Aires
Mon 20 Nov 2023

Three years after Argentina made history as the first large Latin American country to legalise abortion, women’s rights campaigners are gearing up to again go to battle after the election of Javier Milei as president.

“It’s a very bleak picture,” said Soledad Deza of the Fundación Mujeres x Mujeres. “This is a government that is promising us greater inequality and – from the first minute – that the autonomy, sovereignty and independence of our bodies is not going to be supported by the state.”

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/20/argentina-milei-abortion-womens-rights

How the Far-Right Shaped Abortion Care Long Before ‘Roe’ Was Overturned

Naomi Braine's book Abortion Beyond the Law digs into how self-managed abortion emerges from new technologies while building on previous feminist movements.

NOV 14, 2023
NAOMI BRAINE

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, they upended a way of organizing medical care—and life—that women of reproductive age in the United States largely took for granted. In June 2022, when the Dobbs decision was officially released, abortion had been legal for 49 years, and while it had been increasingly difficult to access in much of the United States, there is a vast difference between “inaccessible” and “illegal.” In states that have banned abortion, doctors (and hospital lawyers) calculate the odds of criminal prosecution and even incarceration as they make decisions about care for pregnant women with health conditions, often critical ones, that are incompatible with continuing a pregnancy. In states like Texas, where support for a person seeking an abortion has been criminalized, abortion funds have scrambled to figure out whether they can still operate and, in many cases, have had to close their doors and/or relocate to a different state.

Continued: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/2023/11/14/how-the-far-right-shaped-abortion-care-long-before-roe-was-overturned/

14.11.2023

Film, Art, Books

American Medical Association

Cannes Abortion Drama ‘Power Alley’ Secures Distribution in Spain

By Leo Barraclough
Nov 14, 2023

Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal has closed a deal with Reverso Films for the Spanish distribution of Lillah Halla’s “Power Alley.”

… “Power Alley,” which had its world premiere in Critics’ Week in Cannes, is a fast-paced drama set in Brazil. The film follows talented volleyball player Sofia, who discovers she is pregnant on the eve of a career-defining game. Seeking an abortion, which is illegal in Brazil, she is confronted by a fundamentalist group who become fixated on stopping her. The film puts sisterhood and collective resistance at the forefront of the story.

Continued: https://variety.com/2023/film/global/cannes-power-alley-reverso-films-1235790404/

14.11.2023

With Milei leading Argentina’s presidential race, abortion is on the line

Libertarian candidate and frontrunner Javier Milei has pledged to hold a referendum to repeal abortion access if elected.

By Natalie Alcoba
20 Oct 2023

Buenos Aires, Argentina – In Argentina, it can be hard to focus on anything but economics during an election year. With an annual inflation rate that has eclipsed 138 percent and a currency that has plunged in value, the dire financial outlook has once again dominated this year’s presidential campaign.

But as voters head to the polls on October 22, social issues are increasingly taking centre stage, in large part due to the popularity of far-right libertarian candidate Javier Milei.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/20/with-milei-leading-argentinas-presidential-race-abortion-is-on-the-line

Low turnout for anti-abortion marches in Brazil

October 12, 2023
La Prensa

Rio de Janeiro (EFE) – Anti-abortion marches scheduled for Thursday in Brazil, which organizers said would be the largest in the country’s history, had considerable low turnout, with only a handful of participants in some cities.

The protests, called by conservative and religious groups to commemorate the Day of Our Lady of the Conception of Aparecida – the country’s patron saint – and Children’s Day, were sparked by a Supreme Court case examining the decriminalization of abortion up to the 12 weeks.

… The failure was most evident in Rio de Janeiro, a city with a largely conservative population, where EFE confirmed that only about 30 people showed up at the iconic Copacabana beach designated for the meeting.

Continued: https://www.laprensalatina.com/low-turnout-for-anti-abortion-marches-in-brazil/

12.10.2023

Chile voters sour on right-wing constitution as abortion clause stirs debate

By Natalia A. Ramos Miranda, and Lucinda Elliott
October 6, 2023

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Voters are souring on Chile's second, conservative-led attempt at drafting a new constitution as a bid to further tighten the country's already restrictive abortion laws and other moves to the right threaten to turn off a majority of voters.

More than half of Chileans, 54% of respondents surveyed before the draft text was completed this week, plan on voting against the new constitution, according to pollster Cadem.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chile-voters-sour-right-wing-constitution-abortion-clause-stirs-debate-2023-10-06/

06.10.2023

News

Agustina Ramón Michel

Catalina Lagos

CLACAI

constitutional amendment to ban abortion

Latin American Consortium against Unsafe Abortion

Brazil´s Supreme Court A Step Closer to Decriminalizing Abortion

Chance to Finally Uphold Women’s and Pregnant People´s Rights

Regina Tamés, Cristina Quijano Carrasco, Human Rights Watch
Oct 5, 2023

Brazil’s Supreme Court is now considering a case that could decriminalize abortion in the country up to 12 weeks of gestation.

This case had previously been on hold since 2018, when the Court held a public hearing at which Human Rights Watch urged it to consider Brazil’s obligations under international law in reaching its ruling. Brazil’s current legislation regulating abortion, which dates to 1940, is incompatible with the country's human rights obligations. Abortion is criminalized except in cases of sexual violence, when the life of the pregnant woman is in danger, or when a fatal fetal condition known as anencephaly is detected.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/05/brazils-supreme-court-step-closer-decriminalizing-abortion

In Argentina, election fight brews over women’s rights and abortion

By Anna-Catherine Brigida
October 4, 2023

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's presidential election race is putting abortion access and women's rights in the spotlight, sparking fierce debate in a country that has been a pioneer in expanding reproductive rights in Latin America.

The election frontrunner, economist Javier Milei, opposes abortion and wants to hold a referendum on whether the 2020 legalization of abortion before the 14th week of pregnancy should be repealed. He also wants to shut the ministry of women, gender and diversity, which he has called a type of "affirmative action" that is degrading towards women.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentina-election-fight-brews-over-womens-rights-abortion-2023-10-04/

‘We are fighting for the girls who come after us’: abortion rights at risk in Argentina election

Argentina’s presidential frontrunner, Javier Milei, is threatening to outlaw the abortion rights only won three years ago

Harriet Barber in Buenos Aires
Mon 2 Oct 2023

“We are fighting against the presidential candidates who threaten the rights of women,” says Marilyna, 28, standing hand in hand with her friend outside Argentina’s National Congress last Thursday evening.

Argentina is three weeks away from a national election in which the rights of women and abortion have been put on the ballot, just three years after elective terminations were legalised. Marilyna is one of thousands of women, men and children protesting on the streets of Buenos Aires.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/oct/02/abortion-rights-at-risk-in-argentina-election

Right to abortion in Cuba under attack by counter-revolutionaries

October 2, 2023
BY JOSÉ MANZANEDA

In 1961, after the triumph of the revolution, Cuba became the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to decriminalize abortion. But the right to abortion, as a historical victory of Cuban women, is under attack by the counter-revolution and its media, using the most outrageous lies.

In the 1950s, the practice of abortion in Cuba was similar to that of many countries in that region today: While for high society women it was performed safely and confidentially, poor women died. The number of maternal deaths from unsafe abortions was more than 60 per 100,000 births, something that, in a few years after the revolution, was reduced to almost zero.

Continued: https://peoplesworld.org/article/right-to-abortion-in-cuba-under-attack-by-counter-revolutionaries/

02.10.2023