28S Costa Rica: For the lives of working class women and pregnant women

2023-09-28 14:33:54

September 28 marks the International Day for the decriminalization of abortion. The World Health Organization has shown that the threat of prison does not deter women from having abortions, but rather forces them to resort to unsafe, illegal and even deadly practices. Approximately 39,000 women die from unsafe abortions each year.[1]mostly in poor countries and vulnerable populations.

Due to the great feminist struggles, steps forward are being taken in Latin America in the legalization of abortion. In 2012 it was legalized in Uruguay (and deaths from clandestine abortion were practically eradicated). In 2020 it was legalized in Argentina, in 2022 in Colombia and in September of this year in Mexico. Country where, two years ago, there were 200 women detained for matters related to abortions[2] and a strong movement of women who have carried out various social protest actions.

Now, women from higher classes have the possibility of traveling where abortion is legal and guaranteeing their decision and their health. That is to say, in capitalism, abortion is illegal or impossible, only for those who do not have sufficient resources. The ban on abortion is above all for the working classes, as is the risk of dying from a clandestine abortion.

In Costa Rica, where an estimated 27,000 abortions occur per year, the movement for legal abortion still has hard work to do. In 2019, the Technical Standard for the therapeutic interruption of pregnancy (harmful, dangerous or even fatal cases for pregnant women) was established. In 2021, a feminist movement for legal abortion began, around a bill and a strategy for legal change and a certain grassroots organization in which we even participated.

Recently, even effective access to therapeutic abortion has been questioned and rather this year, the government of Rodrigo Chaves proposed eliminating the risk to the health of the pregnant woman as a cause of termination of pregnancy, among other setbacks. Demonstrating how the gains in rights of women and oppressed sectors are vulnerable to pro-business governments, whose priority is to advance laws and policies to increase the profits of their class.

We should not trust governments, nor the judicial or legislative branches. The path to protecting the health and lives of women, as well as their right to decide, is one of struggle and political organization. And it is a task for the entire working class to assume the demand for legal abortion, hand in hand with quality contraception and secular and quality sexual education.

Sexual education to decide, contraceptives to avoid abortion, legal and free abortion to avoid dying

For the lives of working class women: Free, Safe and Free Abortion Now

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