Some abortion rights advocates within the U.S. are in search of inspiration from their counterparts in Latin American nations the place abortion entry has expanded in recent times.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
While abortion restrictions unfold throughout the United States, abortion entry has been increasing in Latin America. Some abortion rights advocates within the U.S. are actually turning to the south for concepts and assist. NPR’s Sarah McCammon reviews.
SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: As an immigrant from Colombia to the United States, Paula Avila-Guillen has watched the 2 nations transfer additional aside on abortion rights.
PAULA AVILA-GUILLEN: Right now, we’re in very completely different paths.
MCCAMMON: Avila-Guillen is government director of the Women’s Equality Center in New York, which works on abortion rights throughout the Americas. She notes that over the previous few years, her colleagues in Colombia, Argentina and Mexico have seen victories both by way of the courtroom or by way of laws.
AVILA-GUILLEN: And within the United States, we’re going backwards. So I feel that there’s a very essential second to be taught from one another, to alternate concepts.
MCCAMMON: This week, abortion rights advocates from a number of Latin American nations and the U.S. met in Washington to just do that.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting in Spanish).
MCCAMMON: With the U.S. Capitol as a backdrop, they gathered in D.C.’s Freedom Plaza, chanting and tossing inexperienced handkerchiefs into the air.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).
(CHEERING)
MCCAMMON: The bandanas have develop into a logo of reproductive rights in Latin America, a logo they hope will unfold throughout the U.S. as restrictions unfold throughout many states. Meanwhile, Latin American anti-abortion rights activists, like Julia Regina de Cardenal, are drawing inspiration from final summer season’s U.S. Supreme Court resolution upending abortion rights.
JULIA REGINA DE CARDENAL: This has repercussion in the entire world.
MCCAMMON: Regina de Cardenal, who spoke by telephone from El Salvador, leads a bunch affiliated with Human Life International, a corporation primarily based within the U.S. that promotes abortion restrictions around the globe.
REGINA DE CARDENAL: For us, it was the most effective information that the United States lastly bought to inform their residents that killing infants within the womb isn’t a human proper.
MCCAMMON: For abortion rights supporters in Latin America, the purpose is to increase entry even in these nations the place it is already authorized. One concept, Avila-Guillen says, is to arrange funds like these within the U.S. that assist sufferers pay for issues like journey and youngster care.
AVILA-GUILLEN: One of the challenges that we face is how we implement efficiently these legal guidelines.
MCCAMMON: She says they’re additionally working to strengthen networks that offer abortion drugs throughout the area. Maria Antonieta Alcalde is director of the abortion rights group Ipas in Latin America and the Caribbean.
MARIA ANTONIETA ALCALDE: We have been working for greater than a 12 months, constructing these networks which can be working from Mexico in Texas, however in different states. And we all know that there are methods to place the provides within the palms of ladies.
MCCAMMON: With a ruling in Texas anticipated any day that might curtail entry to abortion drugs, Latin American activists say they’re getting ready to work throughout borders to assist sufferers within the U.S.
Sarah McCammon, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF MENAHAN STREET BAND’S “SILKWORM”)
Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional info.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content might not be in its last type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability might range. The authoritative document of NPR’s programming is the audio document.