#WeAreJaneRoe: Our Bodies Are Not a Battleground

For the past decade, Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente has been on the front lines of Latin American women’s efforts to secure abortion rights. She reflects on what the reversal of Roe v Wade means for women everywhere.

The ultra-right and religious fundamentalists are always ready to prey on our rights... Jane Roe is still fighting for her right in each one of us.

 Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente

I was conducting a workshop on citizenship and public policy when, to my astonishment, my female students and I learned the news that Roe v Wade had been overturned in the U.S. The women looked at each other, confused. How? In the land of the free?

The workshop became an opportunity to collectively reflect on reproductive rights, the freedom to decide, and citizenship. We asked, What does this mean for the women of the world? In a stubborn world willing to subjugate women, our bodies are always a battleground, and our rights are never guaranteed. Not even the Supreme Court of one of the world's oldest modern democracies could guarantee them. 

Ten years ago, a green tide for women’s reproductive rights rose from Latin America to the rhythm of war drums and the songs of sisterhood. At the same time, I started sharing my stories on World Pulse as a correspondent. I wrote a piece called "500,000 Reasons to Legalize Abortion" that was published on HuffPost. In the article, I recounted the struggle of Argentine women for the right to decide on their sexual and reproductive rights. 

I can now report that their fight has not been in vain. On December 30, 2020, the Congress of the Republic established a bill recognizing the right to free and medically assisted abortion by Law 27,610.  On December 30, 2020, the Congress of the Republic established a bill recognizing the right to free and medically assisted abortion by Law 27,610.

The efforts of Argentine women to secure this right began 100 years ago with the 1921 penal code decriminalizing therapeutic abortion and abortion as a result of rape, but punishing all other types of abortion with jail. The new national law was enacted on January 24, 2021, by President Alberto Fernández – an essential milestone, but not yet enough. Today, we know that the decision of a court does not guarantee anything to women — the reversal of Roe v Wade proves that.

Almost 50 years ago, in 1973, an ordinary woman from the U.S. carried out a legal battle for her right to decide freely about her sexuality and motherhood, which resulted in the Supreme Court ruling that the U.S. Constitution protects a pregnant woman's freedom to choose an abortion without undue government restrictions.

They called her "Jane Roe" to keep her true identity anonymous. But in her anonymity, she now represents us all. Only we, as women, can take on this global challenge. 

The Green Tide in Latin America

I live in awe of the courage and determination of women activists in my region of Latin America to secure the right to bodily autonomy. Activists in Argentina, Mexico, and my country, Chile have bravely occupied the streets, engaged in political debates and social networks, and advocated for our right to decide on sexuality and motherhood.

Jane Roe continues to fight for her rights through these pro-choice activists.

This "green tide" for women's sexual and reproductive autonomy has advanced in solidarity throughout the continent, relentlessly demanding "sexual education for an informed decision; contraceptives so not to abort; and legal abortion so not to die."

In September 2021, the Mexican Supreme Court decriminalized abortion. In a decision considered historic for the country, the Court declared that it is unconstitutional to criminalize abortion. The federal states of Mexico have gradually joined this decision: Coahuila, Baja California, Colima, Sinaloa, and Guerrero. This has been possible thanks to the fundamental work of feminist collectives’ campaigns throughout the country and even in different indigenous languages to reach women in all territories.

In my own country, Chile, the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet stole women’s right to therapeutic abortion that was guaranteed by law. In 1989, the dictatorship criminalized all types of voluntary pregnancy terminations. Abortion was not allowed even in the case of rape or incest. It was his last act of repression. He handed over the government to a democratic president in March 1990. Still, these regressive laws remained until recently.

Abortion rights in Chile won in August 2017, when the National Congress approved a project presented by then President Michelle Bachelet in 2015, to give women back the right to abortion based on three causes: rape, fetal inviability, and risk to the life of the mother. The law was enacted that September.

It was a huge step for women, but still not enough. 

Our current fight is for free and decriminalized abortions. Chilean women continue to access illegal abortions, in different ways, according to their privileges. Hypocrisy and restrictions put the most vulnerable and socio-economically precarious women at risk. As one of my female students said, “Rich women can pay to disguise illegal abortions as other procedures, while the rest of us can choose between dying or going to jail.”

Abortion is criminalized on the bias of social class, which reveals other social inequalities and the gaps in access to other rights. People in power still don’t want to or can’t understand that only legal abortion can be prohibited. 

The right to free choice and sexual autonomy are essential for women's full citizenship. Without free choice, there is no full freedom to choose or exercise any right. It is not just about being able to choose between having an abortion or not having an abortion – it’s about the freedom to choose our life paths and to push ahead a civilization’s change towards a cultural paradigm where we women could be considered radically, diversely, and equally as people.

Jane’s Fight Is Our Fight

The reversal of Roe vs. Wade is a global threat to women's equality. It illustrates how the ultra-right and religious fundamentalists are always ready to prey on our rights. Their fear turned into laws and policies to target fearless women. 

Jane Roe is still fighting for her right in each one of us.

She is in the anguish of the 371,420 Peruvian women undergoing clandestine abortions per year and in the 50.9% of those women hospitalized for incomplete abortion who are younger than 25.

Jane Roe is in the anger of every woman and girl in this world who were victims of sexual violence during the pandemic and didn´t get help or received expired contraceptives due to the restrictive measures and bad public policies. 

She is in the heart of the Turkish women fighting against a conservative government that hinders their right to abortion, which is legal in the country, and left them unprotected from patriarchal violence by withdrawing from the Istanbul convention.

Jane Roe is in the cry for justice of Lesly Ramírez, a woman from El Salvador who was sentenced to 50 years in prison. She gave birth in a latrine due to an obstetric emergency. Her baby died and she was accused of homicide. 

As Simone de Beauvoir, who in 1971 publicly claimed to have had an abortion, said 

“Never forget that it only takes a political, economic, or religious crisis for women's rights to be questioned. These rights can never be taken for granted. You must remain vigilant throughout your life.”

And we will remain vigilant, united, and active, until our bodies become the very territory of our rights, never again their battlefields.

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