Author: Cora Fernández Anderson

Cora Fernández Anderson is associate professor of comparative politics at Mount Holyoke College. She is the author of Fighting for Abortion Rights in Latin America. Social Movements, State Allies and Institutions (2020).

International Human Rights Court Rules in Favor of Abortion Rights in Case Against El Salvador

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) issued a significant ruling on Dec. 20, with the potential to further transform the legal landscape of abortion rights in Latin America. In particular, IACHR ruled that El Salvador violated a series of rights by denying a 22-year-old woman an abortion in 2013, despite her health and life being at risk and the pregnancy being unviable. According to the court, the government violated her right to health, personal integrity, privacy, access to justice, and to live a life free of violence—rights stated in the Inter-American Convention of Human Rights and the Belém do Pará Convention to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women.

The ruling was received as a triumph by Beatriz’s family and the activists that supported them in this case—but their work does not stop here. Activists are now committing to monitor the government’s compliance with the court’s ruling.

From Green to Red Tide: Latin America Is Leading the Way in the Fight Against Obstetric Violence

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In the early 2000s, Latin American feminists coined the term “obstetric violence” (OV) to refer to acts of abuse in the context of pregnancy, labor and birth, including physical and psychological violence, abusive medicalization and pathologization of natural processes that involve the loss of autonomy over our bodies and sexuality. 

Since then, governments of Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia and Costa Rica have all passed legislation using the language of OV, laying out the rights of people at the time of labor and delivery.

Meet the Public Official Behind Argentina's Landmark Abortion Ruling: Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, Minister of Women

Meet the Public Official Behind Argentina’s Landmark Abortion Ruling: Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, Minister of Women

Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta—Argentina’s minister of women, gender and diversity—was instrumental in the country’s landmark decision to legalize abortion.

From the challenges to implement the new law, to new topics such as the gender gap in caregiving tasks, Gómez Alcorta shares her experiences and plans to tackle the ministry’s feminist agenda.