Collective Action, Collective Hope
In 2014, Paula Avila-Guillen, then a human rights lawyer, traveled to El Salvador to visit several women in prison. “We assumed they were in prison for seeking abortions. When I arrived, I realized they were actually there for miscarriages and stillbirths. One was barely 18 years old, and the prosecutor was seeking a 50-year sentence.” For Avila-Guillen, now a member of Guttmacher’s Board of Directors and Executive Director of the Women’s Equality Center, that trip changed the trajectory of her career.
Many of the attendees at the second Green Wave Gathering, a convening of 150 activists powering the movement for reproductive justice across Latin America, came with similar stories. The Guttmacher Institute cohosted this year’s event in Mexico City in partnership with the Women’s Equality Center, Ipas Latin America and the Caribbean, and Ipas United States. “Guttmacher is one of the only institutions producing research on sexual and reproductive rights in Latin America,” said Avila-Guillen. “The landscape here has changed dramatically over the past four years, and one of the key reasons is the research from Guttmacher.”
The gathering harnessed the power of community, strengthening connections among the leaders of the region’s abortion rights movement and building solidarity, momentum and peer education. “Part of the joy of seeking to change the world is in doing it with other people who care about the same things that you do,” said Kelly Baden, Guttmacher’s Vice President for Public Policy, who co-led planning for the event. Leaders like Baden, operating in a post-Dobbs United States, were buoyed by the success stories of activists in Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico.
Community organizers and policy advocates at the Green Wave Gathering discuss how Guttmacher data demonstrates the impact of investing in sexual and reproductive services in Latin America. (Photo by Ana Lucia Nieto)
Reflecting on the gathering, Baden sees the work ahead through two lenses. First, what lessons can countries in Latin America take from the US experience post-Roe? Equipped with Guttmacher’s research on the impact of policies designed to limit access to care, such as targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws and waiting periods, partners in the region can proactively plan for the challenges that will inevitably arise in a post-legalization landscape. Latin American advocates can now connect directly with Guttmacher to provide actionable data to power the fights that lie ahead. “We got a lot of research requests from Latin American partners and have a lot of ideas about how we can better connect across our US and global networks,” said Baden.
Secondly, as medication abortion and telehealth have expanded in recent years (according to Guttmacher data, medication abortion accounted for more than 63% of US abortions in 2023), expanding abortion access across Latin America will further increase options for women living in US states with abortion bans. The Green Wave movement is one pathway toward Guttmacher’s ultimate vision for an abortion rights movement that looks beyond borders.
Even post-Dobbs, Guttmacher believes abortion access can continue to be both decriminalized and expanded, domestically and worldwide. Avila-Guillen has seen that firsthand: While abortion remains illegal in El Salvador, the 65 women she documented in prison are all free. “The belief that you can win, that there is hope, has been fundamental in advancing policies in Latin America,” said Avila-Guillen. “Many of the activists from the United States arrived to the Green Wave Gathering feeling devastated, but they left feeling full of hope and ready to fight.”
"Gatherings such as these have the potential to change the global abortion landscape because they provide a space for shared learnings while fostering new connections between Latin America and the United States. I left feeling very inspired by the possibilities."
Silvia Henriquez
Program Officer, Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice, Ford Foundation;
Former Chair, Guttmacher Board of Directors
You can learn more about Guttmacher’s impact in our 2024 Impact Report.