Feminist Mobilization and the Abortion Debate in Latin America: Lessons from Argentina

Daby and Moseley ask why abortion decriminalization became a major political issue in Argentina under conditions that conventional explanations considered unfavorable. Their answer centers Ni Una Menos. Mobilization against femicide built organizations, relationships, public visibility, and a shared feminist identity that abortion-rights activists could extend rather than create from nothing.

The article combines AmericasBarometer surveys with interviews, movement meetings, and media evidence. It finds a marked rise in women’s protest participation and traces how activists framed clandestine abortion as gender violence and social injustice, particularly affecting poor women. This sequence challenges the assumption that public opinion must change before movements can act; organized contention can itself make an issue thinkable and alter attitudes.

The evidence is strongest for Argentina and the available survey question measures limited circumstances rather than full support for decriminalization. The article was also written before later implementation struggles could be assessed. Even with those limits, it offers a valuable account of movement infrastructure: grievances become politically consequential when networks, frames, memories, and new generations of participants make collective action possible.