Faith and Body: New Battle Over Abortion in Argentina

Reproductive rights in Argentina face increased obstacles as the administration of Javier Milei emboldens anti-rights groups and politicians.

Ella Fernández
March 10, 2026

On September 25, 2025, as Argentine actress Camila Plaate took the stage after receiving the award for Best Supporting Actress for Belén at the 73rd San Sebastián International Film Festival, she asked, “Who is Belén? I am Belén.”

Belén, the Argentine film directed by Dolores Fonzi, focuses on the true case of a young woman from Tucumán who was imprisoned in 2014 after suffering a miscarriage in a hospital bathroom. She spent 29 months in prison, accused of aggravated homicide.

Continued: https://nacla.org/faith-and-body-new-battle-over-abortion-in-argentina/

Oscar-Shortlisted Film ‘Belén’ Exposes the Injustice That Helped Transform Argentina’s Abortion Laws

Based on a true story, Belén revisits a miscarriage turned prosecution, and the movement that refused to let it stand.

Jan 13, 2026
by S. Mona Sinha

Belén didn’t know she was pregnant until she miscarried in a hospital. She’d gone to the emergency room suffering excruciating abdominal pain. Instead of receiving care, she awoke from surgery handcuffed to her hospital bed, accused of having an illegal abortion.

This is the true story behind Belén, a powerful new Argentine film directed by, co-written by and starring Dolores Fonzi. It is based on the ordeal of a young woman from northern Argentina, chronicled in Ana Correa’s nonfiction book What Happened to Belén: The Unjust Imprisonment That Sparked a Women’s Rights Movement, the prologue of which was written by Margaret Atwood. (Belén is a pseudonym to protect her identity.)

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2026/01/13/oscar-film-belen-argentina-abortion-laws-miscarriage/

13.01.2026

What Happened to Belén: The Unjust Imprisonment That Sparked a Women’s Rights Movement

Dolores Fonzi on Argentine Abortion Rights Film ‘Belén’

Dano Nissen
December 15, 2025

Dolores Fonzi spoke with the Knockturnal about her film “Belén.” The film follows the true story of its titular character, a young Argentine woman who miscarries a pregnancy and is charged with an illegal abortion. Fonzi plays Soledad Deza, the lawyer who represents Belén. She also directed the film.

I want to start with the very first scene. It’s very thrilling and fast-paced and has a very different tone from the rest of the film. So tell me, as a director, because that’s one of the few scenes you’re not in, right? What was it like creating that feeling at the beginning of the film?

Continued: https://theknockturnal.com/dolores-fonzi-on-argentine-abortion-rights-film-belen/amp/

15.12.2025

Rollback and Resistance: The Erosion of Abortion Access in Argentina

Dec 10, 2025
Mercedes Sayagues

The movie “Belén”, Argentina’s submission for the 2026 Oscars, tells the story of a 26-year-old woman who suffered a miscarriage in a hospital in Tucuman province in 2014 and was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2016 after being convicted of procuring an illegal abortion.

Her case sparked a nationwide campaign to decriminalize abortion, known as the Green Tide after the green scarves protestors wore.

In December 2020, the Green Tide won: abortion was legalized on request up to 14 weeks, and later in cases of rape or risk to the woman’s physical or mental health.

Continued: https://healthpolicy-watch.news/rollback-and-resistance-the-erosion-of-abortion-access-in-argentina/

Belén review – gripping true story of woman unjustly accused of illegal abortion

In Argentina a lawyer fights to free a working-class woman jailed after the miscarriage of her baby in this heartfelt retelling

Cath Clarke
Wed 5 Nov 2025

Belén is a pseudonym; in 2014, a 25-year-old woman arrived at a hospital in Argentina with severe abdominal pain that turned out to be a miscarriage. She had no idea she was 22 weeks pregnant, but doctors suspected she had had an abortion, then illegal in Argentina, and called the police. Belén was charged with aggravated homicide and sentenced to eight years in prison. When her case was taken up by feminist lawyer Soledad Deza it sparked protests, thousands taking to the streets in green scarves. This heartfelt drama tells the story, mostly from the perspective of lawyer Deza (played by the film’s director Dolores Fonzi).

It begins in the hospital. The doctor in charge barely bothers to look up at Belén from his clipboard – she is a poor working-class woman and this will determine her fate. After a foetus is found in the hospital toilet, police arrive, handcuffing Belén to her bed. They do not carry out DNA tests on the foetus, so there is no physical evidence – a fact not raised by the blood-boilingly lazy defence at her trial.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/nov/05/belen-review-gripping-true-story-of-woman-unjustly-accused-of-abortion

05.11.2025

Oscars: Argentina Submits Abortion Drama ‘Belén’ For Best International Feature Film Race

By Zac Ntim
September 25, 2025

Dolores Fonzi’s San Sebastian Competition title Belén has been submitted as Argentina’s entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 98th annual Academy Awards.

Based on a true story, the film tells the story of a young woman who is admitted to a hospital with severe abdominal pain, unaware she is pregnant. She wakes up handcuffed to a gurney and surrounded by police. She is accused of having self-induced an abortion and, after two years in detention, is sentenced to eight years in prison for aggravated homicide. A female lawyer from Tucumán fights for her freedom with the support of thousands of women and organizations.

Continued: https://deadline.com/2025/09/argentina-oscar-entry-belen-abortion-drama-dolores-fonzi-1236555661/

25.09.2025

Argentina – ‘Belén’ review: solid political filmmaking of an iconic feminist case

Based on true events, Dolores Fonzi’s second film is a well-crafted and timely vindication of activism

Agustín Mango, Buenos Aires Herald
September 21, 2025

A young woman named Julieta stumbles one night of 2014 into an emergency room in Tucumán with excruciating abdominal pain. The camera follows her closely as a nurse and a violent night-shift doctor dismiss her problems, a nightmarish sequence shot that ends with Julieta handcuffed to the operating table and facing a small cardboard box with a dead fetus in it.

‘This was your child,’ a policewoman scolds her. Terrified and sobbing, Julieta denies she was ever pregnant, and only manages to beg the police and call for her mom.

The harrowing opening scene of Belén is a raw depiction of obstetric violence and police abuse. It is also a clear step-up in Dolores Fonzi’s directorial skills in her second film, a solid retelling of a real-life case that became a landmark for the Argentine women’s movement.

Continued: https://buenosairesherald.com/culture-ideas/film-series/belen-review-solid-political-filmmaking-of-an-iconic-feminist-case

Argentine film on landmark abortion case to compete in San Sebastian

Belén focuses on the real story of a woman who went to jail accused of an illegal abortion after suffering a miscarriage

Buenos Aires Herald
August 21, 2025

In 2014, a young woman in Tucumán went to an emergency room seeking treatment for intense vaginal bleeding. She began having contractions, with studies confirming she was in the midst of a 20-week pregnancy she was unaware of. The woman, who came to be known as Belén (her real name was never made public), would eventually suffer a miscarriage.

Given that abortion in Argentina was illegal at the time, she was reported to the police and charged with first-degree murder. She would spend years in jail immersed in a struggle to prove her innocence.

Continued: https://buenosairesherald.com/culture-ideas/argentine-film-on-landmark-abortion-case-to-compete-in-san-sebastian

21.08.2025