USING RIGHTS TO DEEPEN DEMOCRACY: MAKING SENSE OF THE ROAD TO LEGAL ABORTION IN ARGENTINA
USING RIGHTS TO DEEPEN DEMOCRACY: MAKING SENSE OF THE ROAD TO LEGAL ABORTION IN ARGENTINA
Abstract:
This Article situates the 2020 passage of a law legalizing abortion as an inflection point for Argentine democracy and a case study of how rights concepts can be deployed to advance reproductive justice. First, beginning with the transition to democracy, this study traces shifts in opportunity structures including political and institutional changes; key judicial decisions as well as legal reforms; and the construction of relations among traditional feminist organizations, health professionals, and new actors including key politicians and other decision-makers. Second, the Article focuses specifically on the last fifteen years of legal and social mobilization, the evolving networks of actors engaged in advancing abortion rights, and how the issue became embedded in public debates within and beyond formal institutions of the state. The third stage describes the process of passing legislation in the Argentine Congress and the social decriminalization that was essential for the passage and implementation of the law. Finally, the Article provides a brief overview of trends in Argentina in the first year after the legislation went into effect. The Argentine case illustrates the constructivist and recursive nature of using rights to advance abortion access, whereby the framework of universal human rights in international law interacts dialectically with the interpretations and further adaptation at the national level.
Recommended Citation: Alicia Ely Yamin & Agustina Ramón Michel,Using Rights to Deepen Democracy: Making Sense of the Road to Legal Abortion in Argentina, 46 Fordham Int'l L.J. 377 (2023).