As the US supreme court prepares to decide a case that could deny women the right to abortion in much of the US, Latin American activists like me are holding our collective breaths.
The continent has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, in spite of recent progressive reforms in the past decade in countries including Uruguay and Argentina.
The end of Roe v Wade would deliver a frightening message throughout the region.
El Salvador’s courts have sentenced women who have had a miscarriage to 30 years in prison – treating an obstetric emergency as an abortion. In Honduras, where abortion is already illegal in all circumstances, congress amended the constitution to state that life starts at conception.
Against this dismal legal backdrop, Roe v Wade has long been a source of inspiration to women in Latin America fighting for their basic rights. It has given us a strategic model as well as strong legal arguments against constitutional obstacles. Like women in the US, we have taken our cases to court, sometimes securing significant and progressive gains in the last decade.
In Colombia, the constitutional court ruled in 2006 that women could have an abortion in cases involving rape or incest, when it posed a risk to the pregnant person’s life or health or when the foetus was diagnosed with severe malformations.
In Brazil, the supreme court in 2012 authorised abortion if a foetus is found to have anencephaly, a condition that leads to miscarriage, or death in the first weeks of life. And the court is considering another case that could decriminalise all abortions in the first 12 weeks. Most recently, the Mexican supreme court declared the criminalisation of abortion unconstitutional and mandated that state legislatures across the country act on that ruling.
In all of these cases, activists drew on the arguments in Roe v Wade for their successful litigation strategy and judges cited the landmark case and related rulings in making their decisions.
If the US state of Mississippi succeeds in overturning Roe v Wade after nearly 50 years, we will lose this crucial legal precedent and endanger progress on reproductive rights throughout Latin America.
Just this month, the Brazilian senate approved the nomination of a conservative Christian pastor to the country’s supreme court. President Jair Bolsonaro’s choice is expected to oppose expanding abortion rights.
One glimmer of hope for Americans is the US Food and Drug Administration’s decision last week to permanently lift restrictions on the abortion pill. This reaffirms that Latin American activists have long made the right choice to bet on self-managed abortion for ensuring access while waiting for rights to be granted through the legislative process.
Funders must now expand their support for these direct action strategies throughout the Americas. But few are willing to associate their names with an issue as stigmatised as abortion, which means financial backing is scarce for activists working to expand rights and access.
Philanthropists in the US have been fundamental to our success, and they will most likely want to redirect their funding to American organisations if the era of Roe v Wade does come to an end. They would be right to do so, but it would be a mistake to turn away from organisations and activists in other parts of the world that have made so much progress.
Emboldened by anti-gender movements, powerful forces have swept Latin America, Europe and Africa, seeking to undermine the quest for greater sexual and reproductive freedom – particularly access to abortion and birth control – for the women who are least likely to advocate for themselves. We cannot fight them alone.
Funding community-based self-managed abortion initiatives in countries where access is highly restricted may be the only way to save women’s lives while we battle repressive policies on multiple fronts across the global south.
It may require funders to be less prescriptive in supporting our reproductive justice struggles, and to trust local advocates and the solutions we propose. Doing so will make clear that the lives of women matter, no matter who we are or where we live. We may lose Roe, but never the commitment to our fight.
• Mariana Prandini Assis is an Aspen New Voices Fellow and a Brazilian human rights lawyer, researcher and activist
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