The prohibition of abortion in Chile and strategies of resistance

• In Event: Women and Health in Latin America; the Exclusion/Inclusion paradox

Abstract

Chile is one of the 7 countries in the world where abortion is prohibited in all circumstances. This legislation has generated severe problems of gender and social inequalities. Recent estimates place the number of abortions as high as 70,000 a year, most procured clandestinely in a black market in which income and connections play a key role. The illegality and penalisation of abortion correlate strongly with vulnerability, including feelings of guilt and loneliness; fear of prosecution; physical and psychological harm and exclusion. Most women are turned in to the police while under medical care, especially in public hospitals. Other times, they are not denounced but they can be mistreated by nurses or doctors. Women expressed their desire to have better treatment, in a sense that strongly reminds to those presented by Annemarie Mol while talking about the logics of care depicted by medical staff while treating their patients.
The case of the abortive pill Misoprostol (recently prohibited and so pushed to black markets) is particularly interesting in its role of helping to prevent harm as well as enhancing women's agency. Feminist groups stepped in with a novel solidarity and support strategy that has proved crucial in preserving access to the drug and its safe use. These forms of resistance and reorganization, articulated around mutual care and sustainability of life, think autonomy in a novel direction: as a reappropriation of our own narratives through interdependency and vulnerability. This paper examines the experience of women and the practices of health care providers.

Author

• Lieta Vivaldi, Goldsmiths, University of London