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Anti-abortion visuals in Spain (1975-1985)
Mon, July 13, 9:15 to 10:45am, Edinburgh Futures Institute, 2.20English Abstract
Our paper explores the anti-abortion visual rhetoric during the Spanish democratic transition and early democracy (c. 1975-1985). The death of the dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 and the beginning of the democratic transition in Spain meant the opening of political and social discussions around abortion, its practice and the legal reform of the total abortion ban imposed by the Franco regime in 1941. Partial decriminalization of abortion materialized in 1985, legalizing abortion for criminal and therapeutic reasons. The decade between 1975 and 1985 saw mobilizations of feminist and healthcare activism around abortion rights and access, as well as the emergence of an organized “pro-life” movement that attempted to counter the democratizing reforms in the realm of sexuality and reproduction. This paper explores the anti-abortion visual rhetoric circulating in Spain during the period under analysis and the relationship between “imported” and locally created anti- abortion visual material. We examine the promotion and reception of US anti-abortion books and films, such as The Handbook on Abortion (first published in Spain in 1975) and Silent Scream (first presented in Spain in 1985), and ways images contained in them were further exploited by Spanish “pro-life” groups. We also analyze the local construction of anti-abortion images used in the advertisements of local crisis pregnancy centers and handouts and brochures disseminated during “pro-life”demonstrations protesting the planned decriminalization of abortion and its early implementation. Our analysis focuses on representation of the embryo and the pregnant woman and their relationship in the local and transnational context of “anti- abortion” visual cultures and activism.