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

Safe abortion is life-saving healthcare: A call to action

3rd October 2025
Equality Now
By: Mumbi Mugo, Program Officer and Elizabeth Alukudo, Associate Program Officer

On the 2025 International Safe Abortion Day, commemorated on 28 September, we join women, girls, and human rights defenders across Africa and the globe in reaffirming a simple truth: safe abortion is life-saving healthcare.

As we reflect on progress made, and the road still ahead, we are reminded of the transformative potential of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, more widely known as the Maputo Protocol. Adopted by the African Union in 2003, the Protocol remains one of the most progressive and comprehensive legal instruments for the promotion and protection of women’s rights globally, particularly in the realm of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

Continued: https://equalitynow.org/news/news-and-insights/safe-abortion-is-life-saving-healthcare-a-call-to-action/

03.10.2025

Commentary

African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa

Article 14(2)(c)

Equality Now

International Safe Abortion Day

Maputo Protocol

maternal deaths

Mumbi Mugo

sexual and reproductive health and rights

Slovakian woman breaks silence on abortion as key vote nears

By Sophie Davies
OCTOBER 19, 2020

(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Ivana Gaziova had an abortion as a teenager, she didn’t want to talk about it to anyone apart from her closest cousin. Six years on, a push to tighten Slovakia’s abortion law impelled her to speak out.

Gaziova, a waitress from Bratislava, has gone public with her own story to campaign against the government-led proposal, which critics see as part of a trend towards more socially conservative policies in central Europe.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/article/slovakia-women-abortion/feature-slovakian-woman-breaks-silence-on-abortion-as-key-vote-nears-idUSL8N2H65AV

EXPERT VIEWS: How coronavirus is affecting abortion access

EXPERT VIEWS: How coronavirus is affecting abortion access
What experts from sexual health organisations and rights groups are saying about how COVID-19 is affecting sexual healthcare - and what should be done about it

by Sonia Elks | @SoniaElks | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Sunday, 5 April 2020

Women from Nepal to the United States are struggling to get abortions during the COVID-19 outbreak as lockdowns and medical shortages create barriers to care.

Sexual health organisations and women's rights groups have called on authorities to recognise access to abortion as a human right that must be protected during the pandemic.

Continued: https://news.trust.org/item/20200405091127-tf0kq

Women Activists Escalate Demand for “Bodily Autonomy” as 19 Nations Dissent

Women Activists Escalate Demand for “Bodily Autonomy” as 19 Nations Dissent

By Thalif Deen
Jan 17, 2020

UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The United States and 18 other UN member states have come under fire for denying a woman’s legitimate right to “bodily autonomy”—the right to self-governance over one’s own body without coercion or external pressure.

The Executive Director of Women’s March Global, Uma Mishra-Newbery, told IPS the United Nations has worked towards progress in fighting for women’s rights.

Continued: http://www.ipsnews.net/2020/01/women-activists-escalate-demand-bodily-autonomy-19-nations-dissent/

With incoming Argentine president, abortion rights could expand

With incoming Argentine president, abortion rights could expand

November 18, 2019
By Anastasia Moloney, Thomson Reuters Foundation

BOGOTA, Nov 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Elective abortion has a good chance of becoming legal in Argentina, supporters said on Monday, as a new center-left president is about to take office and feminist and abortion rights movements are growing in the South American country.

President-elect Alberto Fernandez has announced plans to propose a law decriminalizing abortion once he takes office on Dec. 10, saying reproductive rights are a public health issue.

Continued: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health-pmn/with-incoming-argentine-president-abortion-rights-could-expand