Below are excerpts related to abortion issues from this interview with Lilián Abracinskas, founder of Mujer y Salud en Uruguay (MYSU) by Françoise Girard. It was published in December 2024 in her monthly communications platform: Feminism Makes Us Smarter (FMUS).
Lilián Abracinskas
FG: Uruguay has been a pioneer in Latin America, marrying policies advancing economic justice such as free, universal health care and free public education all the way through university, with socially progressive measures such as same-sex marriage, legalized cannabis and access to safe and legal abortion, free-of-charge, in the first trimester of pregnancy. When Uruguay’s abortion law was liberalized in 2012, the country joined a very small club in the region: at that time, only Cuba and Guyana provided a modicum of access to safe and legal abortion. Since then, Colombia, Argentina and Mexico have also recognized abortion rights and changed their laws to improve access, and the social movement known as the “marea verde” (the Green Tide, with its green scarves) has swept Latin America to demand change….
FG: Since its inception, MYSU has worked tirelessly to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights in Uruguay and hold the government accountable for its policies. It was one of the leading organizations behind the liberalization of the country’s abortion law. A new government, led by Andrade, had just been elected and for the first time, Liliane will work inside the institutions of government rather than pressure them from the outside. It’s a big and exciting change! Meanwhile, MYSU will continue forward in the hands of a new generation of activists….
LA: The left in Uruguay is still quite complicated. The Frente Amplio is a political party with many sectors inside. It was founded in 1971 and includes everyone from Social Democrats to anarchists. There are constant negotiations and fights within the Frente. For example, it’s not always been reliably in favor of reproductive rights. Tabaré vetoed the first abortion bill in 2008 that would have decriminalized it completely, and he invoked his ‘pro-life’ mother. This is typical of the left in the region, and is and was true of Lula in Brazil, Christina Kirschner in Argentina, Rafael Correa in Ecuador, Evo Morales in Bolivia, and that terrible couple Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua. They are not strong on sexual and reproductive health, they consider it a secondary issue….
FG: What are your priorities as you go in? I assume there was damage caused over the last five years that needs to be reversed, but what about moving forward?
LA: Oh yes! In Lacalle Pou’s Cabinet, the Cabildo Abierto controlled the Ministry of Health. While they didn’t try to change the abortion law, they changed the way services operate. They intensified their “adoption counselling” during the mandatory consultations pregnant persons have to go through before they can have an abortion. They also weakened services by naming ob-gyns who refuse to provide abortion care on personal or religious grounds [so-called “conscientious objectors”] as the supervisors of abortion services, if you can imagine that! They cut the budget for the purchase of abortion pills—and of all drugs in the health system for that matter—and increased the wait times for care. They weakened the collection of health data, so if a problem arises, there is no follow-up.
As a result, there has been a change in culture within medical circles. When the ward director is against abortion, it sends a message and enables those who object to make access more difficult, to delay care. They are increasingly and openly critical of women who abort, especially if they have more than one abortion….
Delayed care can be very dangerous. An example: we had one woman die because of lack of obstetric care after a legal abortion in 2020. [There are about 10,000 legal abortions in Uruguay every year]. She went through the consultations required by the law, took the pills as prescribed by the doctor. But when she experienced abdominal pains and came to the ER [probably because the abortion wasn’t complete], the doctor who was on call was a conscientious objector, and he only attended to her 24 hours later. She died of septicaemia as a result. A complaint was filed but his medical license was only suspended for a year.
And remember that, after 14 weeks of gestation, abortion is still a crime in Uruguay. Since 2013, a few women have been criminalized for illegal abortion. They were sex workers or poor women. A few men who tried to help women who were past 14 weeks have also been charged with a crime….
FG: You told me last time that a law had been passed under the Lacalle Pou government to require the burial of fetuses…
LA: Yes, this law requires all fetuses of more than 500g (about one pound in US measures) to be incinerated and buried, and a certificate issued. There is actually no penalty if it isn’t done, and if the abortion happens in a hospital, the hospital will handle the disposal anyway. So why did they pass this law? It is all about establishing the “personhood” of fetuses, something they are very concerned about… and other laws are worrisome.
FG: You said the Frente Amplio hasn’t historically been as committed to sexual and reproductive health and rights as feminists wanted. Has this changed now with the Orsi platform?
LA: Yes. The Frente Amplio under Orsi explictly includes gender equality as a cross-cutting theme in public policy. This is a big step forward. Sexual and reproductive health, and abortion services, will be a priority in the improvement of our Integrated Health System [the national public health system]. Senator-elect Andrade, who I’m working with, pushed for this within the left. He has been openly critical of the Frente Amplio’s tepid posture on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Young communists are now very well equipped to work on these issues, they have been trained and they are in fact much better than they were in previous parliaments. So we can work with them.
FG: Thank you Lilián, and all the best for this exciting new chapter for sexual and reproductive health and rights in Uruguay. It’s a message to feminists everywhere: stay engaged and never give up!
LA: Thank you. We have a lot to do, but we feel hopeful. And international and regional solidarity means a lot to us
SOURCE: Feminism Makes Us Smarter, by Françoise Girard. December 2024.