Safe abortion in Latin America: a look at abortion accompaniment collectives from the perspective of their activists

Safe abortion in Latin America: a look at abortion accompaniment collectives from the perspective of their activists

Over the last decade, activists in Latin America have expanded access to safe abortion through processes of accompaniment. Abortion accompaniment is characterised by activism and community-based strategies to facilitate access to, and safe use of, medication abortion, mainly outside clinical context...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Culture, health & sexuality Vol. 26; no. 5; pp. 588 - 604
Main Authors: Atienzo, Erika E., Cruz, Verónica, Garduño, Sofía, Lomelí, Stephanie, Meza, Milena, Zurbriggen, Ruth, Carbone, Sofía L., Wollum, Alexandra
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Taylor & Francis 02-05-2024
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:
Abortion
Abortion, Induced
Abortion, Legal
Access
accompaniment
Activism
Activists
Adult
Autonomy
Barriers
Collectives
Decriminalization
Drugs
Female
Health care
Health services
Health Services Accessibility
Humans
Latin America
Legal status
Legalization
Medical personnel
Pregnancy
safe abortion
Social construction
Surveys and Questionnaires
Latin America
accompaniment
safe abortion
Latin America
activism
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Over the last decade, activists in Latin America have expanded access to safe abortion through processes of accompaniment. Abortion accompaniment is characterised by activism and community-based strategies to facilitate access to, and safe use of, medication abortion, mainly outside clinical contexts. Drawing on findings from a survey of 515 activists who were part of Accompaniment Collectives in Latin America, this study describes the organisation of these collectives, barriers and facilitators to their activism, and how accompaniers perceive the impact and future of abortion accompaniment. Accompaniment Collectives are organised and flexible and operate in diverse social and legal contexts. The main goals of accompaniment are the normalisation and social decriminalisation of abortion culturally (84%); the social construction of autonomy (79%); and the protection of people's freedom (73%), life (71%) and health (67%). Activists in legally restrictive settings identified limited access to abortion medication (73%) and restrictive laws (71%) as the main barriers to accompaniment, while health care personnel objecting to abortion provision on grounds of conscience was most common in legally permissive settings (64%). Collectives have developed strategies to overcome such barriers to and expanding access to abortion care. Activists expect accompaniment to continue regardless of the legal status of abortion.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1369-1058
1464-5351
DOI:10.1080/13691058.2023.2233589