Despite some of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the world, Chile has one of the highest incidences of abortion, at 45.4 per 1,000 women ages 15-44.
Often performed under unsafe conditions, these abortions have led to what Mala Htun, assistant professor of political science at the New School in New York City, calls a “public health crisis.”
Htun described the issues Latin American countries face in dealing with abortion last night in a lecture hosted by the Northeastern University Women’s Studies Program as part of the Feminist Issues Colloquia.
Focusing on Argentina, Brazil and Chile — three countries she described as “superficially similar” — Htun said her research seeks to find out “why, in spite of a public heath crisis, Latin American countries have failed to reform decades-old laws on abortion.” During the early 20th century, Argentina and Brazil were major innovators in creating abortion laws.
“They set the standard, translating cosmopolitan thinking to domestic policy,” Htun said.
In 1921, Argentina became the first country to decriminalize what Htun called “emotional abortions,” which are abortions for women who are raped or are mentally disabled. However, since then, little has changed about the country’s policies on abortion.
“They’ve gone from vanguards of abortion policy to world laggers,” Htun said. “The legal status of abortion in Latin America has changed very little since the early 20th century.”
Htun said the abortion law liberalization of America and Europe in the 1970s and 1980s reframed the issue from one of criminal law to one of personal privilege. Although this change created what Htun called “an international wave pushing in the liberal direction,” it also created backlash movements and brought the Roman Catholic Church out against legal abortion.
“It put the Vatican on the defensive,” Htun said. “They were more adamant not to be undermined.”
Htun said anti-abortion activists in post-authoritarian countries are strong because in the past human rights were not protected.
“Their main argument is that it’s about protecting human rights,” Htun said. “They emphasize human rights and protecting the weak and innocent.”
However, feminist groups in Latin American countries continue to work toward abortion rights for women by ensuring those abortions that are legal are available in local hospitals and working with judges to encourage them to permit abortions in cases of fetal anomalies. They also work with the media to promote abortion as a public health issue and work with political figures to stay involved in behind-the-scenes decision making.
“In the long run these strategies are promising,” Htun said, “but they require gradual reforming as a public health issue.”
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
