Lesson from Latin America for U.S. abortion rights movement

Top jurists map out paths taken by Mexico, Colombia to landmark legalization rulings

BY Liz Mineo, Harvard Staff Writer
October 26, 2022

Mexico and Colombia recently legalized abortion in landmark rulings that offer a stark contrast to the Dobbs decision that overturned the right to the procedure in the U.S. A recent event at Harvard Law School looked at the three seismic legal shifts and produced insights that could, organizers say, yield lessons for the U.S. abortion rights movement.

Justices Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena of the Supreme Court of Mexico and Natalia Ángel Cabo of the Colombian Constitutional Court last week laid out the factors that led to the rulings in their respective countries in a panel on reproductive justice sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.

Continued: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/10/lesson-from-latin-america-for-u-s-abortion-rights-movement/

26.10.2022

Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena

Alicia Ely Yamin

Causa Justa

David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies

’I need an abortion’: The text that gets pills sent in secret

Leire Ventas, BBC News Mundo, Los Angeles
Aug 25, 2022

Anna*, 23, knew that she could not have another child. She also knew that she wouldn't get an abortion in Texas, where she lives, as the state has one of the strictest abortion laws in the United States.

So the mother of a four-month-old turned to social media to search for solutions. She found a number online, and sent a desperate text on WhatsApp: "I need an abortion".

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61874921

A Catholic cartoon helps Mexicans reconcile faith with abortion rights

By Annalisa Merelli
Published August 5, 2022

Sister Juana Ilega and Father Beto work together in a parish. Both of them have Catholic faith strong enough to become the center of their existence, yet they don’t always see eye to eye on matters of morality or religion.

Father Beto is in line with mainstream Catholic doctrine. But Sister Juana is a feminist. She thinks the church should create more space for women, and interfere less with issues of sexuality and reproductive rights. To counter his positions, she uses the most powerful tool she has: scripture.

Continued: https://qz.com/a-catholic-cartoon-helps-mexicans-reconcile-faith-with-1849372958

IN PHOTOS: Here’s how green became the colour of abortion rights

By Amanda Connolly, Global News
Posted July 6, 2022

From the streets of Poland to crowds in Argentina, Mexico and, most recently, the United States following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, abortion rights protests have something in common: the colour green.

Green banners, snapping in the air. Green scarves, green bandanas, green shirts.

Continued: https://globalnews.ca/news/8970022/green-colour-of-abortion-rights/

How Mexico ensures access to safe abortion without legalizing it

No outcomes of pregnancy are a crime in Mexico

By Annalisa Merelli
Published June 6, 2022

When it comes to abortion, Mexico offers a glimpse of a possible future
for the US.

Like its northern neighbor, the country is a federal republic of 32 states in
which the legality of abortion varies. It does not have a federal law, or Roe v
Wade-like constitutional decision legalizing abortion—a position the US is
likely to find itself in by the end of June, when the Supreme Court is expected
to officially announce its decision on Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health
Organization. The decision, a draft of which was leaked last month, might
overturn the precedent stating that a woman has a right to obtain abortion as
part of her right to privacy. If the leak is confirmed, it would end the
federal protection of abortion, and making its legality dependent on the
individual state.

Continued: https://qz.com/2172871/how-decriminalization-of-abortion-in-mexico-expanded-access/

Ireland and Latin America Can Inspire the US Abortion Fight

Analysis by Clara Ferreira Marques | Bloomberg
May 30, 2022

For decades, activists across the world have looked to Roe v. Wade, the landmark US ruling on abortion, as a model worthy of emulation. With the Supreme Court now set to overturn that decision, roles need to reverse: US rights groups must now turn to successful campaigns in Latin America and in Ireland for inspiration and advice on mobilizing voters, galvanizing legislators and widening support.

The impact of these popular movements is hard to overestimate. The Latin American marea verde, or green wave, emerged in Argentina in response to high rates of violence against women with the Ni Una Menos campaign, or Not One Less, and mass street protests. It expanded to include a demand for legal and safe abortions, and took its name from the green scarves women began to wear …

Continued: (unblocked) https://wapo.st/3wYPzTZ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ireland-and-latin-america-can-inspire-theusabortion-fight/2022/05/30/500ffa4c-dfef-11ec-ae64-6b23e5155b62_story.html

What The Green Scarf Means In The Fight For Reproductive Rights

FRANCES SOLÁ-SANTIAGO
MAY 17, 2022

When a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion in early May revealed that Rove v. Wade will likely be overturned, protests broke out across the country, as activists pushed for lawmakers to codify the landmark decision that protected a pregnant person’s right to choose abortion via the Women’s Health Protection Act. Over the weekend, the New York chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America held a march and called on all the attendees to wear green and “bring your green bandana.” Similar protests were held in cities like Miami and Washington, D.C., where many attendees likewise sported green scarves on their wrists and necks.

While the green scarf may be the new symbol of the pro-abortion fight in the U.S, it's been around for at least a decade. In fact, it emerged in Argentina in the late 2010s, as the country’s activists fought to decriminalize abortion in a sweeping movement that earned them the title “Marea Verde” or “Green Wave.”

Continued: https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2022/05/10978997/green-scarf-meaning-roe-v-wade-protests

Why a growing number of Latin American countries are legalizing abortion

May 14, 2022
By Ali Rogin
6-minute video with transcript

As Americans contemplate living in a country where Roe versus Wade is overturned, a very different story is playing out in many parts of Latin America. In recent years, countries throughout the region have relaxed abortion restrictions. Alicia Yamin, senior fellow for the Global Health and Rights Project at Harvard Law School, joins Ali Rogin to discuss what's changed and why.

Continued: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-a-growing-number-of-latin-american-countries-are-legalizing-abortion

Abortion as a Human Right: The Fight for Reproductive Rights in Argentina and Poland

07.FEB.2022
Jaya Nayar

On September 22, 2021, a 30-year-old Polish woman named Izabela died of septic shock at the hospital after her unborn baby’s heart stopped beating. Her death initiated waves of protests across Poland and was seen as the direct consequence of a near total ban on abortion passed in 2020, which outlawed the termination of pregnancies even in the case of fetal defects. Under this new law, unlawful abortion could lead to up to eight years in prison. Terrified of the law and of its potential consequences, Izabela’s doctors waited too long to terminate the pregnancy despite knowing the potential risks for the mother—resulting in her death.

The case of Poland sheds light on a puzzling contemporary phenomenon. The right to abortion has recently been under attack in several countries where it was previously legalized in the late 20th century. In September 2021, the US Supreme Court refused to block legislation in Texas that would ban terminations of pregnancy after six weeks, which is after many women are even aware that they are pregnant. In Turkey, where abortion has been legal since 1983, President Erdogan’s conservative position on abortion is making it increasingly difficult for women to access abortions in public hospitals.

Continued: https://hir.harvard.edu/abortion-as-a-human-right-the-fight-for-reproductive-rights-in-argentina-and-poland/

Abortion on the border: The institutionalization of stigma and shame

Victoria Rossi/El Paso Matters and Veronica Martinez/La Verdad
Sep. 17, 2021

The heartbeat gave Ana nightmares for years. She stared at the sonogram of her fetus as a woman at El Paso’s Hill Top Women’s Reproductive Clinic, who wore scrubs but had not introduced herself, described the image on the TV screen before them.

Earlier, the woman had explained that Texas state law required this narration. If Ana wanted her abortion, the woman said, she was not allowed to look away.

Continued: https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2021/09/17/texas-abortion-border-institutionalization-stigma-and-shame/5684120001/