IWHC writes: We were proud to honor activist Marta Alanis at IWHC’s 2019 Annual Dinner last week. There, we shared Marta’s story, and as she took the stage the audience erupted in our version of the green wave for women’s rights!
Marta Alanis is Catholic and feminist. 25 years ago, she founded Catholics for the Right to Decide (CDD) in Argentina. Marta spent five years in exile, during the dictatorship in Argentina. During this formative time, she was drawn to feminist activism through Catholicism learning from Ivone Gebara, a Brazilian Catholic nun, philosopher, and feminist theologian as well as the Nicaraguan Jesuit priests and brothers Ernesto and Fernando Cardenal.
Upon returning to Argentina, Marta started CDD-Argentina in Córdoba, the second largest city in Argentina and they have now expanded to Buenos Aires as well. Marta felt a strong need to promote the sexual and reproductive rights of Argentinian women from an ethical, theological, Catholic, and feminist perspective in collaboration with diverse local and regional social movements. In 2003, Marta helped to launch the National Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe and Free Abortion, a national network of over 500 organizations, including human rights organizations, health providers, journalists, and trade unions that work on abortion rights through a human rights lens.This expansion of support for reproductive rights to other public and key strategic sectors has been pivotal in reshaping the movement for women’s rights in Argentina.
VIDEO/PHOTO – Marta Alanis champions women’s rights in Argentina