A new conservative social movement? Latin America’s regional strategies to restrict abortion rights

Abstract

Despite increased evidence of international lobbying groups working to restrict sexual and reproductive health and rights policies at international bodies such as the United Nations, little is known about transnational networks working at local level to restrict abortion rights, how they work, and if it is possible to describe regional strategies developed to restrict abortion rights. This brief highlights some of the main strategies deployed to restrict the right to safe and legal abortion in Latin America. Challenging beliefs that movements towards restriction of abortion rights are local in character, it argues that – similar to the movement for the decriminalization of abortion – country movements against women’s abortion rights are part of regional alliances, and there is a high level of exchange amongst organizations from different countries.