In 2022 we celebrated three decades of work. We came together to commemorate this accomplishment and to thank those who have joined us in the struggle. We waved green handkerchiefs for legal abortion in four more states of the Mexican Republic. We were filled with euphoria and inspiration as Colombia decriminalised abortion up to the 24th week of pregnancy. And, although the United States reversed Roe v. Wade, we embraced the opportunity for dialogue that this upheaval brought to feminist movements to defend our rights. This year we have accumulated an ocean of stories and we want to share thirty of them that make us proud. Here are a few:
1. We want to eliminate abortion as a crime in the penal codes and towards that end we promoted a strategy together with local organisations. We promoted legal stays in some states, we won in Puebla and the Aguascalientes legal stay will be heard by the SCJN.
2. We are interested in shedding light on the reproductive rights of people with disabilities in Mexico and sent a shadow report on this issue to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
3. In March 2022, there were seven states that had already partially decriminalised abortion in Mexico. To celebrate, with MxMareaVerde (Mexico’s Green Wave) we carried out the artistic intervention «A tsunami for legal abortion» in Mexico City, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Baja California, Coahuila and Colima.
4. As part of the Gender and COVID-19 Observatory in Mexico, CONEVAL and GIZ recognised GIRE for good practices and with the #NosotrasEnLaPandemia (We Women in the Pandemic) campaign we continued to shed light on the effects of the health crisis on distinct populations of women.
5. We built alliances with a broader social justice and human rights movement: we are now part of the Antimilitarist Feminist Network.
6. With local organisations and collectives, we created a strategy for abortion access in states that have decriminalised abortion.
7. We participated in international events to advocate for the issues we work on. The Second Latin American and Caribbean Meeting: Just Cause Freedom is unstoppable! and the XV Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean are two of those spaces.
8. We painted ourselves green because #LegalAbortion also reached Sinaloa, Guerrero, Baja California Sur and Quintana Roo.
…and much more.
SOURCE: GIRE Annual Report 2022: An Ocean of Stories, 2 June 2022