2018-2020
Latin America witnesses a surge of feminist mobilisation for reproductive rights. Led by Argentina’s marea verde (“green wave”), activists reframe abortion as a matter of justice, health, and human rights. The movement’s mass protests, legal advocacy, and public education campaigns spark transnational solidarity across the region. At the beginning of 2018, a combination of inseparable processes of viralization in social networks and mediatization of televised discussions for the legalization of abortion also take place in Argentina. This heralds a year of feverish activism in the digital space and on the streets, demanding the right to legal, safe, and free abortion, under the hashtag #LegalAbortionNow (#AbortoLegalYa, in Spanish). Extending far beyond its birthplace of Argentina, the movement reinvigorates and revitalizes the struggle that the National Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe and Free Abortion has been carrying out since 2005.
Although Argentina’s Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Bill is initially rejected in 2018, the campaign catalyzes feminist action throughout the continent—from Mexico to Chile and Colombia. The green scarf becomes a ubiquitous symbol of defiance and collective demand. In 2020, Argentina legalises abortion, marking a historic victory. These years also see a surge of intersectional feminist activism. In Chile, the collective Las Tesis ignites a global performance protest with the chant “Un violador en tu camino” (“A Rapist in Your Path”), denouncing state complicity in gender-based violence. Performed widely during feminist marches—including by abortion rights activists—the chant becomes a visceral embodiment of Latin America’s broader struggle against patriarchal and institutional oppression. Together, the marea verde and feminist cultural interventions challenge entrenched conservatism, reshaping regional politics and inspiring new waves of mobilisation across the global South.
