I condemn the ruling by the United States Supreme Court that overturned the right to abortion.
Let it be heard clearly and forcefully throughout our America
WE decide what happens to our bodies!
In response to the decision issued on June 24, 2022, by the United States Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which had legalized abortion in that country since 1973, the members of CLACSO Working Group on anti-patriarchal struggles, families, genders, diversities and citizenshipWe express our rejection and concern regarding the judicial actions that curtail the sexual citizenship of women and pregnant people by outlawing the right to decide autonomously about their bodies, their sexualities, modes and times of reproduction and contraception.
From the immense Transnational Green Wave for the Right to Legal and Free Abortion, we stand in solidarity with the women and people with the capacity to gestate in the United States and accompany them in the struggle to defend their sexual rights and their exercise linked to protection and care practices.
What does the Supreme Court's ruling mean for women and people with the capacity to gestate? Predominantly composed of conservative, orthodox, patriarchal, and heteronormative men, it denies constitutional guarantees for the effective fulfillment of the human rights of women and people with the capacity to gestate, and in doing so, breaks with the principles of social justice and leaves access to voluntary and legal abortion in the hands of the moral and ideological positions of each confederated state.
The intention of these sectors, rooted in neoconservative, fundamentalist, and religious positions, is to relegate women and people with the capacity to gestate to a subordinate role. By imposing the mandate of reproductive function, they contradict the rights won and guaranteed in international regulations linked to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Cairo), and the Montevideo Commitment, among others. This undermines the living conditions of all women, and especially those most vulnerable due to their ethnicity, migrant status, abilities, and other factors, particularly young women, which will further exacerbate existing inequalities and inequities in that country. We know that clandestine abortion remains the leading cause of maternal death and unwanted/forced pregnancies in girls under 14 in countries of the region where it is illegal. Therefore, upholding and defending this right and so many others that we have achieved through feminist struggles, demands and claims is central to achieving a just and dignified life for ourselves and future generations.
From a feminist perspective, we have been constructing motherhood as an informed, responsible, and desired choice, as it involves reproduction and the provision of a good life, under dignified conditions and with rights that must be guaranteed and recognized within the framework of the State's responsibility. From civil society, movements remain vigilant, monitoring and tracking progress toward achieving sexual citizenship for all.
We feminists have also identified that these conservative groups use strategies of digital violence, persecution through social networks, and the sale of private data used on various platforms (search histories, browsing history, text messages, location data, payment data, information from period tracking apps) for the persecution of women and health workers.
These failures put us at risk, not only of unsafe abortions but also of state surveillance and criminalization of pregnant women, undoubtedly, but also of doctors, pharmacists, clinic staff, and family members who have significant contact with a pregnancy that does not end in childbirth. Therefore, we demand that legislative bodies approve legal frameworks that protect personal and digital data so that harassment and repression are not used as punitive strategies to impede access to sexual rights in our continent.
Access to legal, safe, and free abortion is a right that empowers us as citizens, allowing us to make decisions about our lives on equal terms. This right, denied to us for centuries, is now being revoked, reopening the debate not only in the United States but throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. It strengthens anti-rights groups that constantly attempt to limit, roll back, and deny guarantees regarding sexual rights, even resorting to the judicialization and criminalization of legal abortions and access to contraception.
July 5, 2022
CLACSO Working Group
Anti-patriarchal struggles, families, genders, diversities and citizenship
This statement expresses the position of the aforementioned Working Group and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
