Teach-In: The Struggle for Abortion Rights in the Americas

Description

With the overturn of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2022, abortion policies and women's reproductive rights are in the hands of state legislatures. Today, state law protects abortion rights in 21 states and the District of Columbia. Still, it is at risk of being severely limited or prohibited in twenty-six states and three territories.

In Latin America since 2015, the "Ni Una Menos" movement that spurred in Argentina calling for the legalization of abortion has expanded in the region. In Mexico in 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that criminalizing abortion is unconstitutional, and Ecuador's legislature made abortion legal in cases of rape. In Chile's new constitution, abortion rights are protected, and Colombia is the latest Latin American country to loosen restrictions on abortion in what has become known as the region's "green wave." However, a few countries have moved in the opposite direction. Honduras embedded its absolute abortion ban into its constitution. In El Salvador, where abortion is prohibited under all circumstances, women face up to eight years in prison.

Join the Program in Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies to learn about women's legal and reproductive rights across the region and for Latinas in Baltimore.

• Mary Fissell (moderator), professor of the history of medicine, Johns Hopkins University
• Alma Beltrán y Puga, full professor, faculty of law, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia
• Juliana Marquez, student of molecular and cellular biology and history of medicine, Johns Hopkins University, and co-president of Advocates for Reproductive and Sexual Health
• Rachel Nolan, assistant professor of international relations, Boston University School of Global Studies