As the U.S. faces abortion bans in states around the nation, some Latin American countries are leading the globe in bodily autonomy, becoming increasingly progressive in protecting abortion as a right. Colombia, for example, went from a total abortion ban to now having some of the most liberal abortion policies in the world. In February 2022, Colombia decriminalized abortion up to 24 weeks, just four months prior to the monumental Dobbs decision which struck down constitutional protection for abortion in the U.S.
Following the trend, Mexico decriminalized abortion last year, citing that prohibiting abortion is unconstitutional and violates women’s rights. This movement pushing reproductive rights forward, the Marea Verde, or the Green Wave, was born in Argentina in 2015 when one million activists gathered in the streets to demand the legalization of abortion, donning green scarves which have now become representative of the rights they’ve won and the rights they’re still fighting for.
As the Marea Verde continues to spread across Latin America, Latinas in the U.S. – and really anyone with a uterus – are seeing their rights stripped away. An estimated 43% of Latinas aged 15-49, nearly 6.7 million people, live in states that have banned or are likely to ban abortion, according to a report published by the National Partnership for Women and Families last year.
As the largest group of women of color impacted by abortion bans, Latinas have their healthcare at stake in this election. Arizona, which is both a border state and a swing state, is home to an estimated 2.3 million Latinos. The state faces the future of abortion rights in this election as voters prepare to make a decision on Proposition 139, which could add an amendment to the state’s constitution establishing abortion as a fundamental right.
Latinas have faced a reproductive legal see-saw for months. In April, a pre-statehood 1864 law came into effect which banned most abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Local lawmakers repealed the law on April 30, and Gov. Katie Hobbs signed it on May 2, according to Attorney General Kris Mayes. The state currently operates under a 15-week ban, leaving many fleeing elsewhere for their abortion care.
For many, hoping and waiting for abortion to be legalized in their state isn’t an option. Abortion travel has become essential to accessing care in the post-Roe landscape of the country, especially for those in the South. According to the New York Times, 171,000 patients traveled for an abortion last year. As the need for care ramps up, people are fleeing not only to other states but south of the border to access abortions they want or need.
The cost to travel is mounting to many individuals facing the reality that they will only be able to have their abortion if they go outside of their state. Transportation, lodging, the abortion itself and other factors like childcare if needed, can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars, which most Americans cannot afford. According to a report published by financial services company Empower in July, 37% of Americans can’t afford an unexpected expense over $400 and 21% have no emergency savings at all. These costs and risk factors are even greater for undocumented abortion seekers who are also threatened with deportation or criminalization due to their documentation status.
“There’s that real risk of deportation, being separated from your family and detained, so it’s a double edged sword, right? You’re sacrificing your health or jeopardizing essentially your existence in the state or the place that you find yourself due to these laws criminalizing immigrants,” Katherine Olivera, director of government relations at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice told Reckon in August.
Arizonans see the irony. While American politicians point fingers at Mexico for issues like immigration and fentanyl, Mexico is faring well for its citizens– at least when it comes to abortion care.
“I’m glad that in Mexico they’re able to have better access but it’s interesting that here in the United States we want to take 20 steps backwards, but we want to [also] talk so poorly on countries like Mexico for variations of things, right?” said Anna Abeytia, president of the Cartwright School Board in Arizona and candidate for the House of Representatives in Arizona’s District 24. “They’re actually kind of ahead of us.”
In 2022, NPR reported that an abortion clinic in Tijuana, a border city which sees an estimated 100,000 travelers per day, experienced their American patients jumping from 25% of their total clientele to 50% just two months following the Dobbs decision. However, the exact numbers may differ, as Profem does not require patients to show proof of residency at any of its five locations.
“They don’t tell us the truth because they think that we are going to deny them service once they tell us that they’re from the U.S.,” Luisa Garcia, director of Profem, told NPR. “We see people that only speak English, with blue eyes and blonde hair — in other words, there’s no way to deny they come from elsewhere.”
While abortion clinics welcome foreign patients, advocacy groups like Las Libres, a Mexico-based feminist organization, work to get Americans the abortion pills they need. In April, Wired reported the group has received requests from Texas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Florida and other states with bans, delivering 1,700 abortion medication kits throughout the U.S. from June to December 2023.
“Most of the women are Latin American or African American. We have seen many who are Dreamers or the daughters of Dreamers and some who are undocumented. We have also worked with trans men,” Paola Fernandez, a member of Las Libres, told Wired.
Dreamers refers to undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, a nickname deriving from the DREAM Act, proposed legislation that would protect them from deportation. According to the National Immigration Forum, there are approximately 3.6 million Dreamers living in the U.S.
For many Latino immigrants, hopes for a better life for them or their families are the driving force motivating their move to the U.S. But what they find when they get here may not be as dreamy as they envisioned. A KFF poll on Latino immigrants published in January found that 25% struggle to afford healthcare, 26% are uninsured, a statistic that jumps to 55% for those who are undocumented. Reckon has highlighted the issues undocumented individuals face in accessing healthcare in general, as well as abortion care, as many noncitizens are ineligible for federal programs, and others face a five-year waiting period to enroll in Medicaid or CHIP.
According to KFF, over half of Latino immigrants in the U.S., 53%, were born in Mexico. Abeytia lives in Maryvale, where 75% of the population is Latino, mostly Mexican.
“We see that happening in Maryvale, where people come from Mexico and they’re like, well this doesn’t make sense because I can go back home and have access to it. I don’t understand why my neighbor doesn’t have access to it,” Abeytia said.
Latinas fighting stigma and forming solidarity through storytelling
Cultural stigmas surrounding abortion exist in Mexican and other Latino communities which are marked by deep Catholic roots and marianismo, the traditional gender role of Latin American women that likens them to the Virgin Mary – “pure,” selfless, and submissive. Though Catholicism is trending downwards, 43% of Latinos in the U.S. still identify as Catholic and according to the Mexican government, so does 78% of their population.
To combat the stigma and open Latino communities to discussions about the need for abortion, the Women’s Equality Center hosted the Aborto es Salud: Our Stories, Our Power Latinx Storytelling Tour last week with stops in Nevada, Arizona and Florida. Latin American women like Cristina Quintanilla, a woman who was convicted of murder and sentenced to thirty years in prison as an 18-year-old mother who suffered a miscarriage in El Salvador, told stories about how abortion bans impacted their lives.
“I think that’s something that really stuck [with] me from today is all the different reasons that people are here,” Arizona resident Isabelle Herrera, who attended the San Luis tour stop said. “There’s a million reasons why abortion should be legal, but people don’t really want to listen to that and I think it’s so important to listen to so many different stories, so you understand and get a new viewpoint.”
Rosa Hernández from the Dominican Republic shared the story of her daughter “Esperancita” who found out she had leukemia and was denied chemotherapy because she was three weeks pregnant. The Dominican Republic has a total abortion ban, and because she was denied both chemo and an abortion, 16-year-old “Esperancita” died in 2012.
“I will go to any corner in the world to fight, to raise my voice, because this cannot keep happening,” Hernandez said (translated by Reckon from Spanish).
On September 27, the tour stopped in San Luis, where over 95% of the population is Latino, many of whom are Mexican or Mexican American, as the town lies on the border, with about 7,000 people crossing each day, according to ABC 15.
Herrera said that Mexican culture can be closed off to these types of discussion.
“It’s just very taboo to talk about or you get judged so horribly because within the Mexican culture it’s so Catholic, and it’s basically like ‘oh, you’re killing babies’,” she said.
Emilia Cortez, candidate for Yuma County Recorder, opened up to Reckon about her own experience with having a life-saving abortion and how hearing others’ stories helped her.
“This is a huge thing for our community and [shows] how we shouldn’t traditionally think that abortion is a bad thing,” she said.
Cortez said that she’s proud to have grown up in a Mexican household, follows the Catholic faith and “supports life,” but is grateful for the women telling their stories and speaking out against Mexican tradition, adding that Arizona needs to do the same.
“It’s crazy how Mexico is changing their ways of thinking from traditional so we have time, but we don’t at the same time, we need to get over those barriers and really just support [abortion] medically as an option,” she said.
Luisa Arreola, a local teacher, placed her green flag, or pańuelo, on an altar dedicated to lives lost to abortion bans and to the hopes attendees have for the future of reproductive rights.
“All the women in our community that are breaking those barriers, that taboo that we can’t talk about abortion, all these things that tie us…. So to all those women who are breaking the barriers in our rural community, it’s a blessing. This is for all of us,” Arreola said.
With the 2024 election quickly approaching, Latinas in Arizona have an opportunity to enshrine abortion rights into their state’s constitution through Proposition 139. Paula Avila-Guillen, executive director of Women’s Equality Center, who has led campaigns to end abortion bans throughout Latin America, told Reckon she felt a deep connection to Arizona since the first time she visited.
“It reminds me so much of the movements that I’ve been a part of in Argentina and Colombia and El Salvador and Honduras. That force that comes from knowing that you don’t have any other choice except to fight back,” she said. “I know that Arizonans are going to fight back and win.”
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Publish date : 2024-10-08 08:17:00
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