The green wave, a liberal feminist movement started in Argentina, increased mobilization in 2020 in to decriminalize and destigmatize abortion across multiple countries in Latin America. Catalina Martínez Coral, Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Center for Reproductive Rights and leading member of the movement that decriminalized abortion in Colombia, sits down with us to talk about the inspirational movement, the human rights gains made across Latin America, and what the U.S. can learn from green wave activists.

 

Starting in 2020 in Argentina, hundreds of thousands of activists took to the streets outside of Congressional buildings on a weekly basis to demand abortion rights. Still, before the green wave spilled over from Argentina into Mexico and Colombia (which later affirmed the right to abortion), Latin America and the Caribbean was one of most restrictive environments worldwide for the access of abortion services. Currently, seven countries in the region have a total ban on abortion (El Salvador, Jamaica, Honduras, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Suriname). In these countries today, and in countries that had previously criminalized abortion, many people face or have faced limited exceptions to abortion access (abortion in the case of rape, to save the life of an individual, etc.), provider bias, stigma, and more.  

 

U.S. advocates can learn a lot from the green wave movement and its incredible activists. First and foremost, the U.S. must begin by incorporating human rights standards as part of domestic work. Second, the U.S. can continue to strengthen the abortion rights movement and its mobilization to make as much noise as possible around important, just, human rights issues. 

 

Links

Center for Reproductive Rights on Twitter

Center for Reproductive Rights on Facebook

Centro de Derechos Reproductivos on Twitter

#ThxBirthControl Toolkit

 

Take Action Items

Follow Center for Reproductive Rights on Twitter and Facebook, and Centro de Derechos Reproductivos on Twitter.

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Share Green Wave stories on social media! Similarly, support Green Wave activists at in-person strikes and events both in the U.S. and in Latin America.

 

Continue to have conversations with friends and family about abortion as a human right.

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