Dolores Fenoy, a historic abortion activist in Argentina, disconnects for a moment from a call through Zoom with members of Congress and representatives of feminist groups from the Commission on Women and Diversity. The meeting was to be held in person but the pandemic was also crossed by the plans of the movement in favor of abortion that celebrates 15 years of struggle in the country.
On March 1, the president, Alberto Fernández, announced a bill on the decriminalization of abortion in the first phase of pregnancy. Currently in Argentina, aborting is punishable by up to four years in prison, except in cases of rape or risk to the pregnant woman. However, the president's proposal was never formalized due to the health crisis.
“As women in history and as an organization we are used to setbacks. We know we have accomplished a lot, ”says Fenoy, who remembers the Senate's hard hit in 2018 when he narrowly denied passing the abortion law. "We did not feel defeated, that time we got society to talk about abortion, we took it out of hiding. Now with the pandemic, we have transferred our fight from the streets to social networks, ”says the activist.
Quarantined yes. In silence NEVER. # 15AñosDeCampaña # AbortoLegal2020 pic.twitter.com/jFaheGXYS8
- # AʙᴏʀᴛᴏLᴇɢᴀʟ2020 💚 (@PorAbortoLegal) May 28, 2020Fenoy is a member of the National Campaign for the Right to Legal Abortion in Argentina, one of the most nurtured social movements in the country with more than 500 organizations, promoters of the green tide present in many countries of the world.
Just as the political agenda changed due to the health crisis, the movement's strategy was also modified to keep the fight for abortion active virtually and through social networks. On May 28, on the anniversary of the 15th anniversary of the National Campaign for the Right to Abortion, a virtual day was organized with many online actions that dyed green social networks in Argentina. “Since morning on Twitter the hashtag # AbortoLegal2020 was a conversation trend for 12 hours, this indicates that the request for the legalization of abortion is still in force with broad support in citizens who express themselves digitally until we can return to occupying the streets ”Says Claudia Laudano, professor and researcher specialized in digital technologies and feminism at the National University of La Plata.
"Social networks for us are essential," says activist Celeste McDougall, who believes that the discussions on Twitter and Facebook were definitive in 2018, an opinion shared by Laudano. "Along with the mobilization on the street, the gradual appropriation of the feminist movement of the networks to spread actions and generate public opinion in favor of abortion was one of the key strategies," says Claudia Laudano. "Networks are a territory of political dispute and a space where to fight cultural battles to transform society," says Jenny Durán, of the communication commission of the National Campaign for Legal Abortion.
Durán says that they not only turned to activism in networks, virtual accompaniment and by phone, they also created a campaign in the public space of all the provinces of the country with valuable information for women who want to abort. “In the pandemic, the legal termination of pregnancy cannot be denied or delayed. Neither does the delivery of contraceptive methods, ”explain the posters posted on the streets.
During the quarantine, 70 calls a day were registered to access legal abortions in Argentina, according to data from the Ministry of Health, "the telephone demand to be accompanied in accessing a legal abortion grew 536%," says journalist Luciana Peker in an article published in Infobae and stresses that it is necessary to “keep the issue on the agenda and guarantee legal abortions” despite the quarantine imposed in the country.
"What democracy owes us women is the right to free, voluntary, legal abortion, as a conquest of public health and social justice. I have no doubt that this 2020 abortion in Argentina will be law. We never put our arms down, ”says Dolores Fenoy before reconnecting to Zoom.
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