Project title

Feminist Activism and Self-Managed Abortion Manuals in Latin America and the Caribbean

Research question

What forms of knowledge, care, and resistance do feminist self-managed abortion manuals create and circulate in Latin America and the Caribbean?

Project description

Over the past two decades, feminist organisations across Latin America and the Caribbean — including women’s and lesbian organisations — have produced self-managed abortion manuals that have been translated into multiple languages and adapted across formats, from print booklets and zines to digital resources, and tailored to different communities, including trans people. These manuals turn clinical information into everyday guides that help protect those who seek abortions from criminalisation, stigma, and barriers within the health system, showing that access difficulties persist even where legal frameworks are more permissive.

Raquel Irene Drovetta proposes the concept of “feminist care pedagogies” to describe a collective way of teaching and learning that organises safety, mutual support, and care among those seeking abortion in contexts of unequal access to health services. Combining analysis of physical and digital archives with interviews with the activists who write, edit, illustrate, and distribute these materials, the project shows how the circulation of practical knowledge sustains forms of resistance and reproductive autonomy in the region.

Selected publications

  • Drovetta, Raquel I.; Freedman, Cordelia; and Rúa, Agustina. 2023. “Self-care for abortion activists and providers: lessons of law and risk from Argentina.” BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsrh-2023-201847
  • Bessone Gudiño, Pablo; Drovetta, Raquel I.; and Rúa, Agustina. 2023. “Ações para o aborto seguro durante a pandemia: o caso das práticas de duas organizações na Argentina.” Cadernos Ibero-Americanos de Direito Sanitário, 12(4): 51–63. https://doi.org/10.17566/ciads.v12i4.1199
  • Drovetta, Raquel I. 2021. “La práctica del aborto en manos de feministas en los 70.” Revista Estudos Feministas, 29(2). https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9584-2021v29n267176
  • Drovetta, Raquel I. 2020. “A 50 años del servicio de aborto feminista de Jane en Chicago.” Zona Franca. Revista de estudios de género, 28. https://doi.org/10.35305/zf.vi28.180