The Struggle to Decriminalize Abortion in Latin America
HAVANA TIMES – The idea that women were born to be mothers is still generally accepted in Latin American and Caribbean countries. This concept underpins the laws dictating partial or total bans on abortion, thus violating a woman’s right to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy and pursue her life goals.
That’s how Cristina Rosero, a lawyer with the Center for Reproductive Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean, summed up the current state of abortion rights for IPS. The organization is part of Causa Justa, a broad movement created in Colombia in 2017 to promote women’s reproductive autonomy.
Every year on September 28, groups commemorate the Global Day of Action for the Decriminalization and Legalization of Abortion. This initiative was adopted in 1990, at the Fifth Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Meeting, held in Argentina. The tradition later spread to other regions.
“Reproductive autonomy is key to deciding whether or not to become a mother: when, under what circumstances, and how far apart you want your pregnancies. These are transformative decisions that influence one’s life plan. The ability or inability to exercise choice regarding maternity is crucial, and within that the discussion about abortion, because restrictions and prohibitions persist in our region,” Cristina Rosero stated in an interview from Bogotá.
She explained that reproductive rights begin with access to comprehensive sex education and information on contraceptive methods, but that abortion also becomes a critical issue, because it’s where the imposition of gender stereotypes about motherhood as a woman’s purpose is most strongly felt.
“This includes the forced obligation to continue with a pregnancy, regardless of how it may affect an individual’s life plan, health, and well-being. Abortion laws clearly illustrate this: women must be mothers, regardless of their desires and autonomy,” the lawyer noted.
Rosero stressed: “abortion must be recognized as a right, because changing the rules that limit access to this service is key to preventing gender stereotypes from continuing to force women into a life plan they don’t want, that doesn’t respect their autonomy, nor take their wishes into account.”
Restrictions and prohibitions
In Latin America and the Caribbean, a region with more than 660 million inhabitants, more than 50% of the population is female. Various studies highlight the gender inequalities women face, imbalances which are even starker when intersected with ethnicity, geographical location, sexual orientation, economic status, age, and physical condition.
In this structurally disadvantaged context, unwanted pregnancies – often due to rape, especially in the case of girls and adolescents – disrupt women’s lives, often leading them to the brink of disaster due to the criminalization of abortion or the restrictions they face, even when it’s decriminalized in certain circumstances or is freely available.
A report by UN Women and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) noted in 2024 that only 31% of countries in the region have laws and regulations that guarantee access to voluntary termination of pregnancy services.
Rosero highlighted the progress made in Mexico, Argentina, and her own country, Colombia, whose Constitutional Court ruled in 2022 to decriminalize abortion up to the 24th week of pregnancy. The three grounds for abortion that previously existed remain in force: risk to the life or health of the pregnant woman, pregnancy due to rape or incest, or fetal malformation.
Uruguay, Cuba, and Puerto Rico have also decriminalized voluntary termination of pregnancy, while other countries such as Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Guatemala allow it under specific circumstances, although these differ in each case.
“Chile allows abortion when the pregnancy is the result of rape, represents a threat to the mother’s life, or when the fetus is non-viable. Bolivia also considers the impact on overall health, which allows for broader access, while Ecuador’s Constitutional Court has specified rape as grounds for terminating a pregnancy,” the specialist explained.
Although these exceptions represent a step forward from total bans, she continued, they are still insufficient, because in practice such grounds tend to be interpreted restrictively and hinder women from accessing this procedure.
Finally, she referred to countries with a total ban, such as the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Suriname, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. She also mentioned Honduras, which also has a law preventing any change from being enacted constitutionally.
“What happens in these contexts is that persecution is not only directed at women who need to terminate their pregnancies, but the stigma is so strong that some cases of uninduced miscarriage have been criminalized,” Rosero denounced.
She noted the case of Manuela vs. El Salvador, which her institution represented before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The case involved a woman who had suffered an obstetric emergency but was denounced and then tried and sentenced to more than 30 years in prison under El Salvador’s extreme law prohibiting abortion, even though she had not committed the crime established.
“Sadly, she died of lymphatic cancer, which she developed in prison and never received adequate treatment for. The Inter-American Court’s ruling recognized that a context of total criminalization leads to this type of unjust conviction and established compensation for her family. It also ordered El Salvador to modify its regulations, so that health professionals do not prioritize criminalization, but rather the care of women,” she explained.
Girls, not mothers
Some countries, such as Peru, have seen serious setbacks in sexual and reproductive rights due to a conservative wave that currently dominates the legislative and executive branches. Given this, on Sunday, September 28th, Peruvian women are planning to march in defense of therapeutic abortion and other lost rights.
Abortion is criminalized in that country with two therapeutic exceptions: when it’s necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman, or to prevent serious and permanent damage to her health.
“We’re advocating for complete legalization – for legal, safe and free abortion in the hospital. Nevertheless, analyzing the context and the threats to our rights – because we’re not fully democratic – we are also defending the right to therapeutic abortion, because this is also in serious risk,” stated Shely Cabrera, attorney and spokesperson for the Green Assembly.
This Assembly is a permanent space for promoting the legalization of abortion, made up of various organizations, collectives, and independent activists. In Latin America, the color green symbolizes the fight for abortion rights, a symbolism Argentina introduced during their ultimately successful battle for the legalization of voluntary termination of pregnancy.
Although therapeutic abortion has been legal in Peru since 1924, legislators of evangelical faiths continue trying to limit and eradicate its application. Conservative pressure has led to the approval of two laws that protect the conceived and the unborn child, “a term that is neither scientific, biological, nor legal,” Cabrera declared.
“In the law passed last year for the protection of pregnancy, the unborn child, and their family environment, we managed, through advocacy and struggles in the streets and on social media, to ensure that its provisions do not conflict with the regulations for therapeutic abortion,” she added.
It’s important to ensure that this allowance is properly applied, because it guarantees that girls and adolescents who become pregnant as a result of rape have access to legal abortion and can continue with their life plans.
“Sexual violence is on the rise in Peru. From January to August this year, there were 113 reports of rape of girls aged zero to five; 619 of girls aged six to 11; and 4,335 of adolescents aged 12 to 17. To date, there have been 606 births this year to girls under the age of 14,” denounced the lawyer.
“These disturbing figures make it clear that the law is not being enforced,” she declared indignantly. All these girls should have had access to a therapeutic abortion, due to the risk to their health and their lives. We demand that the state comply with existing public policies and decriminalize abortion in cases of rape.”
Cabrera indicated that last year there were 1,079 births to child mothers. Among those most affected are those living in impoverished rural areas of the Andes and Amazon. “This indifference on the part of the State is unacceptable,” she said.
That‘s why on Sunday, September 28, when they commemorate the Day for the Decriminalization and Legalization of Abortion, “we will take to the streets with our slogans: ‘Girls not Mothers’ and ‘Motherhood by choice, not by force.’”
“In this way, we are also contributing to ending the stigmatization of abortion and fighting for these thousands of girls forced into motherhood. They’re not numbers, they’re lives, and entire families are affected,” Shely Cabrera concluded.
First published in Spanish by IPS and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.