Queering abortion rights: notes from Argentina

Cult Health Sex. 2018 Dec;20(12):1378-1393. doi: 10.1080/13691058.2018.1437221. Epub 2018 Mar 6.

Abstract

In recent years, there have been calls in activist spaces to 'queer' abortion rights advocacy, to incorporate non-normative notions of gender identity and sexuality into abortion struggles and services. Argentina provides an interesting site in which to examine these developments, since there is a longstanding movement for abortion rights in a context of illegal abortion and a recent ground-breaking Gender Identity Law that recognises key trans rights. In this paper, we analyse public documents from the abortion rights movement's main coalition - the National Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe and Free Abortion - alongside interviews with 19 Campaign activists to examine shifts and tensions in contemporary abortion rights activism. We trace the incorporation of trans-inclusive language into the newly proposed abortion rights bill and conclude by pointing to contextual factors that may limit or enhance the further queering of abortion rights.

Keywords: Abortion; Argentina; activism; queer; transgender; women.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Abortion, Induced / legislation & jurisprudence*
  • Argentina
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Patient Advocacy
  • Sexual and Gender Minorities
  • Women's Rights / legislation & jurisprudence*