When the right to abortion is more than a law: accompaniment and cultural transformations in the political activism of Argentina’s Socorristas en Red

Photo Credit: Julia Burton

We continue with the digital symposium, ReproDialogue: Critical Discussions on Self-managed Abortion & Reproductive Justice by guest editor Lucía Berro Pizzarossa. This symposium, a collaboration with Birmingham Law School and Bill of Health a blog by The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, brings the international revolution in self-managed reproductive healthcare into focus. Additional posts will run weekly.

When the right to abortion is more than a law: accompaniment and cultural transformations in the political activism of Argentina’s Socorristas en Red by Julia Burton

In December 2020, the Argentinean Congress passed the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Law, (27.610), which legalizes abortion up to and including the 14th week of gestation and, thereafter, in the case of rape or risk to the life or health of the pregnant person. Thus, Argentina became one of the countries that went from having a model of grounds-based legalization (only in the case of rape or risk to the pregnant person) to one that allows abortion on request in the first trimester, and became the second to legalize abortion in the Southern Cone (the first was Uruguay, in 2012). 

Feminist obstinacy and decades of struggle demanding the legalization and decriminalization of abortion added to the movement’s ability to establish alliances and influence existing legal frameworks, making possible the emergence of the “green tide” first and the legalization of abortion later. Within the broad trajectory of struggles for abortion rights, I will focus on Socorristas en Red. 

Socorristas en Red (Feminists and Transfeminists who abort) is an organization of abortion escorts that emerged in Argentina in 2012. Currently, it brings together 40 feminist collectives from all over the country that offer information on safe medication use and abortion accompaniment. Between 2014 and 2023, Socorristas accompanied 79,669 people, including those who decided to have an abortion in a healthcare institution and those who carried out a self-managed practice. 

Socorristas’ activism deploys a dual strategy that continuously feeds back on itself. The first is direct action, taking abortion as an urgent matter that needs to be attended to by developing accompaniment strategies. The second is cultural activism, less studied but just as substantive for the movement’s development. 

El Socorro Rosa (the name of the accompaniment system) is organized around four principles: a telephone call, a face-to-face meeting, telephone support during the use of medication, and partnerships with health professionals to recommend where to go for post-abortion check-ups. Although this process is somewhat formulaic, dwelling on a few points is worthwhile. 

The initial telephone call is a critical moment in the whole system because it is the first contact that the person who needs an abortion has with the activists. Those who answer the telephone line develop a type of listening and conversation style that aims to reassure the caller. At the time of the meeting — preferably face-to-face and in a group among several women who need an abortion — leaflets are handed out with information with WHO guidelines describing how the medication is administered, how it works, what symptoms it produces, and what precautions to take into account during the abortion process. But this space generates much more than an exchange of “technical” or pharmacological information. 

Activists create spaces in which women and other people who can become pregnant talk about their decisions, their fears, their existing supports, and if it is necessary to develop a strategy tailored to their needs. The space allows for an exchange of mates, laughter, and anecdotes.

Creating instances of dialogue and mutual learning as a core strategy of abortion accompaniment breaks through the loneliness, silence, and fear that characterize the dominant emotional narrative surrounding abortion. Instead, these spaces can be seen as feminist strategies for de-individualizing abortion, highlighting the collective dimensions of a practice that occurs within a singular body. This also allows the experience of abortion to be associated with care, relief, alliance-building, and collaboration, among other positive aspects.

In this way, the second strategy — cultural activism — becomes deeply intertwined with the first. In Argentina, activism for the right to abortion has two main objectives: one is material and the other is cultural. The material objectives are exemplified by the enactment of Law 27.610 and the various feminist strategies that have advanced the expansion of rights. These tangible achievements represent significant progress in the legal and institutional recognition of reproductive rights. The cultural objectives, on the other hand, aim to transform the structures of feeling surrounding abortion. This involves challenging and reshaping the dominant narratives and emotional responses that, as Nayla Luz Vacarezza points out, traditionally frame abortion as something that inspires terror, fear, or disgust. 

Through a diversity of artistic forms that include stories, illustrations, songs, photographs, performances, stickers, posters, and books, among others, Socorristas elaborates new narratives and discourses linked to the legitimization of abortion, which are not restricted to legal or health arguments. They work to reframe abortion as a practice that can generate joy, and they emphasize the role of collective care, relief, tranquility, desire, rebellion against social mandates, and collaboration, which lead to mutual support. While moments of anguish or sadness are acknowledged, the importance of speaking out as a profoundly political and feminist action that transcends the imposed silence and concealment surrounding abortion is emphasized. It challenges shame as a guiding emotion of this practice. These new narratives also challenge specific ideas within the feminist movement itself, which often positions abortion as a lesser evil — a practice necessary “in order not to die” rather than one inherently connected to autonomy.

The new narratives legitimizing abortion aim to move away from the notion that having an abortion is the worst experience a person can go through. Instead, they suggest that choosing to have an abortion is as morally valid as choosing not to. This challenges the idea that motherhood is a woman’s only destiny and the sole, acceptable perspective. As a result, both motherhood and the choice not to become a mother are seen as equally valuable options in the context of a potential pregnancy. In such cases, abortion becomes a method that actualizes the power of a desire.

Julia Burton, PhD is an Assistant Researcher at the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas in Argentina (National Council of Scientific and Technical Research), working at the Instituto Patagónico de Estudios de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (IPEHCS).