1. ABORTION RIGHTS ACTIVISM, LEGAL MOBILIZATION AND CASE LAW CHALLENGES IN ARGENTINA AND URUGUAY.
- Author
-
Borland, Elizabeth
- Subjects
JUDGE-made law ,ABORTION ,PRO-choice activists ,PRO-choice movement ,ACTIVISM ,SOCIAL movements - Abstract
In the last seven years, there have been major changes in two South American countries that once firmly prohibited abortion: Argentina and Uruguay. In both, social movements have mobilized to demand legal abortion, and policies have been changed to grant increased access, to different degrees. Yet in each case, advances fall short of the goal of legalization and public provision. Instead, policies restrict access to abortion to specific cases and require different implementation regimes. In some cases, it has led to challenges by feminist lawyers in the courts. How have activists, lawyers and others addressed implementation as they continue to try to expand abortion rights around these policies? What can we learn from Uruguay and Argentina to better understand the role of litigation in abortion rights and reproductive justice in the rest of Latin America and around the world? This paper draws on interviews with lawyers and activists addressing abortion rights as well analysis of key cases based on court documents and media reports to compare legal mobilization on abortion in Argentina and Uruguay. Focusing on legal mobilization in the courts as a social movement tactic, the paper views cause lawyers and litigation as important resources for each movement. It argues that movement actors pursue their goals using strategic litigation that varies based on legal opportunity structures that vary across national contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019