Resisting the Overturn of Roe: What U.S. Feminists Can Learn From El Salvador

[niyad]

Resisting the Overturn of Roe: What U.S. Feminists Can Learn From El Salvador
6/14/2022 by Mellissa Linton
In a grim moment nationally, let us look to Latin America for the sustained will to resist and overturn abortion bans.


Women march to the Legislative Assembly during a demonstration to demand legal abortion on September 28, 2021 in San Salvador, El Salvador. With the threat of an all-out ban on abortion, it is time for U.S. reproductive rights organizers to think transnationally and look to how Latin American feminists, specifically in El Salvador, have successfully resisted the criminalizing, all-out ban on abortion in effect since 1998. (Roque Alvarenga / APHOTOGRAFIA / Getty Images)

U.S. reproductive rights organizers, lawyers and health practitioners are coming face to face with the reality that abortion could be completely banned in the U.S. Already, the practice is banned after six weeks in more than five states. The overturn of Roe v. Wade includes addendums that also criminalize abortion. Oklahoma passed a near total ban on abortion in April, criminalizing clinicians who provide abortions as felons. This ban includes fines upwards of $100,000 or 10 years maximum in state prison. Doctors, nurses and family members considered “aiding and abetting” could be surveilled and criminalized for assisting in abortion.

Unfortunately, this reality has existed in El Salvador since 1998 when the right-wing ARENA party banned abortion in all instances, then changed the Constitution just one year later in 1999 declaring life begins at conception. In the coming years, it is wise for U.S. feminists to think and organize transnationally—how can we learn from and draw political connections with Salvadoran feminists that have successfully freed women from prison who are charged with the “crime” of abortion? We must prepare our response and support of all people who will be criminalized for abortion in existing states where bans exist. Most importantly, we can learn from existing cultural and legal tactics to overcome the battle ahead.

Abortion in El Salvador has been illegal under all circumstances since 1998, even in cases of rape, incest, fetal deformity or miscarriage. El Salvador is among four countries in Latin America that ban abortion all-out, including Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic. In El Salvador, more than 200 women were serving abortion-related charges in 2015, according to The Coalition to Decriminalize Abortion, and many were arrested while still under anesthesia in the hospital.The Coalition to Decriminalize Abortion in El Salvador (Agrupación Ciudadana por la Despenalización del Aborto) was formed in 2009. In 2014, U.S. news outlets began covering “Las 17,” a campaign created by the coalition. Translating to “The 17,” the campaign refers to 17 women serving upwards of 30 to 40 years in prison for the crime of abortion.

. . . .


Alongside national legal efforts, international campaigns have been important sources of political visibility. Both Amnesty International and the Center for Reproductive Rights have produced quantitative research on the social impacts of abortion bans including increased maternal death, suicide and the proliferation of back-alley abortion methods. In a grim moment nationally, let us look to Latin America for the sustained will to resist and overturn abortion bans. Most notably, U.S. reproductive rights organizers should think of legal and cultural campaigns that can move across states. Though combatting abortion bans in the U.S. will be difficult because states exert their own jurisdiction over abortion laws, we can create a national movement and anticipate the challenges ahead through learning from Latin American feminists, especially the resilient people of El Salvador.

https://msmagazine.com/2022/06/14/el-salvador-abortion-ban-roe-v-wade/