Feminismo frente a fundamentalismos religiosos: mobilização e contramobilização em torno dos direitos reprodutivos na América Latina Feminism in the face of religious fundamentalisms: mobilization and counter-mobilization in the field of reproductive rights in Latin AmericaA principal oposição ao avanço dos direitos reprodutivos, e do direito ao aborto em particular, na América Latina se encontra na mobilização de fundamentalismos religiosos 1 , ou do chamado ativismo conservador (Vaggione, 2009), que, no marco da transição a regimes mais pluralistas na região, representam um desafio para o processo democrático e para a realização de políticas públicas que promovam a igualdade de gênero e dos direitos cidadãos nesse campo 2 . Para o movimento religioso conservador, hoje os temas centrais são a defesa do modelo de família "natural" e do papel tradicional da mulher, e a consequente oposição aos direitos sexuais e reprodutivos * É doutoranda em Direito no Instituto Universitario Europeo (Florença, Itália). 1 Reconhece-se a origem da noção de "fundamentalismo" nos Estados Unidos no início do século XX, quando teólogos protestantes publicaram escritos em defesa dos "princípios fundamentais da fé", como reação ao processo de modernização; no mundo católico, um movimento semelhante se dá aproximadamente na mesma época na França, com o surgimento do integrismo, e nos anos 70 se produz um ressurgimento do fundamentalismo na Igreja Católica, durante o papado de João Paulo II, e como reação ao Concílio Vaticano II (ver Vasallo, 2006, p. 11-13). 2 Os resultados da enquete realizada pela AWID (Associação para os Direitos da Mulher e o Desenvolvimento) com ativistas pelos direitos das mulheres de distintos países e regiões do mundo mostra que 76% das pessoas entrevistadas consideram que durante a última década os fundamentalismos têm ganhado poder para incidir na formulação de leis e políticas, especialmente no campo da moral e da sexualidade (AWID, 2009, p. 3
On April 2018, the Argentine Congress began debating a bill proposing the legalization of abortion on request for the first time in the country's history. Although it passed in the Lower Chamber, the bill failed to be approved by the Senate. However, the legislative debate showed the strength of the Argentinean abortion rights movement. Since the mid-2000s, and as a reaction to political paralysis in the area of abortion rights, activists in this country developed three main strands of strategies, which differed in terms of their time-frames, levels of institutionalization, targets, and scales. Based on original field research, this article analyzes the way in which each of these three tracks addressed the state, the current legal framework and the need for legal reform. It argues that, when legal reform is blocked, different movement sectors may develop parallel strategies to increase access to their demands within the existing normative framework. Through their diverse strategies, they test the limits of the law, challenge hegemonic legal interpretations and re-interpret what is permissible in alternative ways. In addition, the interaction between the different strategies created a powerful synergy that strengthened the movement and made the recent legislative debate possible, even under the leadership of an anti-choice president. Given the similarities of the Argentinean restrictive legal framework and movement strategies with those throughout Latin America, these arguments are relevant for the assessment of current developments within abortion rights movements and their interactions with the legal system in other countries in the region.
The implementation of the 2012 Argentinean Supreme Court landmark ruling, which declared abortion legal in all cases of rape and established standards of implementation of lawful abortions at all levels of government, shows an uneven pattern of compliance by subnational governments throughout the country. Based on a case-study of the implementation of the Court's decision in the province of Salta, this article advances an explanation of mechanisms that can affect the definition and enforcement of abortion rights at the local level, in a federation. Drawing on Putnam's concept of two-level games, it argues that, at critical junctures, local authorities and especially strong governors with presidential aspirations, may have electoral incentives at the national level to comply at least partially with national laws and judicial decisions which are contrary to their own ideological preferences and their local political allegiances. The study suggests that analyses of political opportunities for local reproductive rights activists in federal regimes should include the potential two-level games of local authorities, such as politicians with presidential aspirations, and judges who intend to pursue a career in national or international institutions. Through this analysis, the article intends to contribute to our understanding of the political determinants of subnational compliance with national abortion laws and court decisions in federal systems, and more generally, political factors and dynamics that shape inequities in the protection of women's rights under federalism.
One of the main innovations in the interaction between social movements and the state in Latin America since the democratisation processes is the use of courts as venues for social change and the intervention of social actors in constitutional politics. Drawing from the empirical study of the process of strategic litigation for abortion rights in Brazil, this paper aims to show what type of changes can take place when social actors set out to pursue a legal strategy on a highly controversial matter, and in a transitional context, where courts are in the midst of a redefinition of their institutional role in the political system, and movementshave not yet been central actors in judicialisation processes. The study highlights how feminist organisations adapted their framing of the abortion issue and developed new alliances with legal actors in order to pursue a rights strategy and to interact with the constitutional court. It also points out how, when dealing with the abortion controversy, the Brazilian constitutional court (Supremo Tribunal Federal) expanded the legal opportunity for the participation of civil society actors and, in its 2012 decision that liberalised the abortion law, acknowledged the legal arguments advanced by social actors in this field.
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