Campaigning for Abortion Rights

A historic law reform in Argentina

On 29 December 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, women and human rights activists finally won a hard-fought battle in Argentina. After more than 15 years of campaigning, the Law on the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy was adopted by the Senate, enabling the legal termination of pregnancy up to the fourteenth week of gestation.

From 1921 to 2020, the system in place in Argentina granted access to legal abortion only under certain circumstances. Abortion was legal when the pregnancy threatened the woman’s life, presented a health risk or was a result of rape. In these contexts, the final decision regarding the termination of a pregnancy rested with health professionals who could refuse to perform a procedure due to their religious beliefs or to avoid criminal prosecution and possible imprisonment.

The Law on the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy passed in December 2020 adopts a mixed regulatory model based on how far along the pregnancy is and other legal grounds. According to this model, the voluntary termination of a pregnancy is permitted up to, and including, the fourteenth week of gestation. Anyone with the capacity to gestate (i.e. cis women, non-binary and trans people) can decide to terminate their pregnancy without having to give a reason, thus taking the final decision over their body. After the fourteenth week of gestation, abortions are still legal if they meet the same three legal grounds in place before the new law was passed. If an abortion does not meet these criteria, it is still punishable by law, but with lower penalties than previously.

The recently approved law recognises the right of an individual to access abortion and comprehensive post-abortion care free-of-charge in the services provided by the public and private healthcare system, in all the forms recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This is highly significant because, over the past 30 years, complications arising from abortions performed in risky conditions have been the top cause of maternal mortality in Argentina, accounting for a third of the total number of maternal deaths.

The recently approved law recognises the right of an individual to access abortion and comprehensive post-abortion care free-of-charge in the services provided by the public and private healthcare system, in all the forms recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The securing of the right to safe abortion

Years of struggle by the women’s rights movement and the involvement of various social and political actors were required to secure the right to safe abortion in Argentina. This struggle began as early as the 1970s when feminists, health organisations and some left-wing parties began to advocate the need to decriminalise abortion. However, it was not until 2003, at the National Women’s Meeting in Rosario, that a turning point was reached with the development of a first plan to campaign for legal abortion.

Two years later, the National Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe and Free Abortion was created. Over time, the campaign grew to ultimately comprise more than 300 groups and organisations including trade unions, academics, political parties, LGTBIQ+ groups, human rights organisations like Amnesty International, teachers, health providers, journalists and artists.

In 2015, the first #NiUnaMenos mobilisation further strengthened the campaign. This mobilisation, which arose out of anger at the large number of femicides in Argentina, marked a historic milestone in the participation of new generations of women. It also paved the way to a broader agenda of demands in terms of rights and allowed efforts to be directed towards the same goal: decriminalising abortion.

The Bill for the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy had to be presented seven times to the National Congress before it was able to advance. It was only in 2018, thanks to the multiplicity of actors and voices involved – including many parliamentarians of different political affiliations – that Senators and Deputies were able to debate the bill for the first time. The bill was passed in a tight vote in the Chamber of Deputies in June 2018, but was then rejected by the Senate in August of the same year.

Anti-abortion groups grew to become a highly active influence on the Senate. Before the first debate around the bill in Parliament in 2018, these groups had a marginal profile in Argentina and expressed themselves chiefly via existing political parties. In 2018, however, both the catholic and evangelical churches, as well as pro-life organisations, became more visible and vocal. Campaigning with the slogan “Let’s save the two lives”, they organised a big “mass for life” in Buenos Aires shortly before the Senate vote.

After the defeat of the bill in the Senate, the movement for safe abortion did not give up the hope that a reform of the law was achievable. Hundreds of thousands of people, mostly women, had gathered in the streets outside the Senate to wait for the announcement of the result of the vote. They stood there for hours in the rain, wearing the emerald green handkerchiefs that have become the symbol of pro-choice supporters. They were many, they were together and they had won a key battle: the issue of abortion was now high on the public agenda.

“Now that we are together, now they see us”

The slogan “Now that we are together, now they see us” sung by women and girls in the streets outside the Senate vividly illustrates the first big lesson from the campaign for safe abortion in Argentina: it is essential to join forces and seek the support of as many actors and as diverse a group as possible. To generate growth, the campaign framed its struggle around the slogan “Sex education to decide, contraceptives to not need to have an abortion, legal abortion to not die”. Comprising three clear, reasonable and motivating maxims, this slogan established a new perspective on sexuality and the right of women and pregnant people to make free and informed decisions about their own bodies. It also allowed people to talk about female sexuality, desires, life plans and the right to full development for girls, women and pregnant people.

Women’s rights activists pushed reproductive rights to the top of the political agenda in Argentina. Alongside the issue of safe abortion, they opened up conversations about other previously taboo topics such as sex education in schools and access to contraceptives, as well as sexual harassment and gender-based violence. To win the political battle for safe abortion, they first led the cultural battle.

Women’s rights activists pushed reproductive rights to the top of the political agenda in Argentina. Alongside the issue of safe abortion, they opened up conversations about other previously taboo topics such as sex education in schools and access to contraceptives, as well as sexual harassment and gender-based violence. To win the political battle for safe abortion, they first led the cultural battle.

A comprehensive analysis of the key elements of success during this campaign which lasted more than 15 years is far beyond the scope of this article. However, in the eyes of the Argentinian Amnesty International office that has been campaigning on this issue since 2013, one strategy that influenced public opinion and politics was the publication of provocative and cutting-edge research on the consequences of the criminalisation of abortion in the country, illustrated by emblematic individual cases. These included the case of Belén, a young Argentine woman who was imprisoned for two years after being accused of homicide due to a miscarriage she had while in hospital. Her case made global news and she was mentioned countless times in speeches at the Argentine National Congress by leading figures arguing in favour of legalising abortion during the parliamentary debates of 2018 and 2020.

Training young people about SRHR and engaging them in the campaign has also been key, as has multiplying national and international actions online to pressure the President and Deputies, and organising creative offline events. Such actions proved to be particularly important between 2018 and 2020 because they kept the topic high on the political agenda and helped to sustain the engagement of safe abortion supporters who felt disappointed and helpless after the initial defeat in the Senate. Using the green handkerchief as a symbol of support for safe abortion and the wire coat hanger as a symbol of unsafe clandestine abortions also brought the campaign visibility and led to it gaining national and international media coverage.

A never-ending battle

The historic vote in the Senate in December 2020 is a great victory for all the people who campaigned tirelessly for the decriminalisation of abortion in Argentina and an inspiration for everyone who is fighting for this right in other conservative contexts. However, even if we know when the fight began, we are unable to foresee how long it will have to last. Since the bill was passed in Argentina, many legal actions have been filed against the law or the government officials who pushed for its approval. The legalisation of abortion inevitably strengthened anti-abortion groups and they have gained more support and rallied to hinder the enforcement of the law both in healthcare and in the justice system. They have also increased their presence in political parties, universities, civil society associations, schools, the judicial branch, the media and more. The main challenge today is to prevent any setbacks in the enforcement of the law and to guarantee its effective implementation across the country. The green wave cannot rest yet.

Campaigning for abortion rights is a long-term project. Indeed, in the current context of rising fundamentalism and nationalism, it may be one that never ends…