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How Nicaraguan women's rights movements argue for extended abortion rights in the context of the country's total abortion ban. The study also discusses the importance of coalition-building and framing abortion as a question of reproductive health and rights. The document also highlights the challenges of lack of access to sexuality education, contraceptives, and the risks of illegal abortions.
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Uppsala University Spring 2018 Development Studies Author: Selma Brodrej Supervisor: Hans Blomkvist Word count: 12573 Number of pages: 36
examine if the actors are using the same arguments against the abortion prohibition now as they did ten years ago. The comparison has been based on a framework developed by Silke Heumann in her article The Challenge of Inclusive Identities and Solidarities: Discourses on Gender and Sexuality in the Nicaraguan Women’s Movement and the Legacy of Sandinismo from 2014. In this work, Heumann is studying how activists and advocates of women’s rights are arguing for a less strict abortion law. She distinguishes three categories that will be explained further in the Theoretical – Framework section of this essay. Additionally, the aim with the comparison has not only been to distinguish similarities or differences between the central arguments in themselves. Instead, the objective has also been to gain an understanding and compare other aspects of the movements’ that are linked to how they argue regarding abortion rights. These aspects involve how the movements are positioning themselves regarding feminism, women’s sexuality, the private sphere (as a political area or not), and the central site of power. These factors are taken into account in the study by Heumann. Hence, the aspects were considered to be relevant for the abortion issue and to contribute to make the time comparison as nuanced and complete as possible. In the second research question, the expression ‘standpoints on relevant aspects’ is used as a collective term for the movements’ arguments against abortion and the movements’ perceptions of feminism, sexuality, the private sphere, and the central site of power.
The following questions have been the basis for this study:
This section will approach the subject of the thesis from three different perspectives to explain why the abortion debate in Nicaragua is important and relevant to study, both for empirical and for theoretical reasons. Moreover, the aim with this section is to introduce the reader to studies and theories by other scholars that in different ways are linked to this essay. By this introduction, the ambition is to provide the reader with a theoretical ground helpful for the coming analysis. Additionally, the ambition is also to specify how this essay contributes to the academic field of Development Studies and to future research. The section has been divided in three categories, based on the different reasons the specific subject has been understood as important. WH Y S TUDY AR GUM ENTS? On an essential level, it can be argued that the fact that this thesis puts its focus on arguments is a statement per say. Why is a specific movement’s opinion about a law of any importance? Does it really matter? There are reasons to believe that it does. An example is the article Abortion Law Reform in Latin America: Lessons for Advocacy by Gillian Kane ( 2008 ). In this work, Kane analyses abortion reforms in different Latin American contexts (including Nicaragua). What she finds is that how different actors argue about abortion, the discourses they are a part of and the framings they use can be crucial. These aspects influence the way people perceive the question of abortion hence also potential policy reforms. For example, Kane finds that one important starting point for the achievement of a liberalization of an abortion prohibition is to reclaim the terms of the debate from the Catholic Church. Kane argues that the Catholic Church has dominated the abortion discourse, by talking about abortion in terms of religion and morality. In the light of the Mexican and Colombian history of successful abortion law reforms, Kane claims that framing abortion as a question of reproductive health and rights can be an effective way of countering the Catholic arguments. Kane also explains that coalition-building beyond the women’s movement can be beneficial for the development of abortion rights. By talking about the abortion issue as a question of health, democracy and rights instead of an exclusive question for women the support base can be expanded. For example, coalitions between abortion- rights advocates and medical communities have been used to gain broader support, (Kane, 2008, p.369).
Another research project highly relevant for this study is found in the article Talking Rights or What Is Right? Understandings and Strategies around Sexual, Reproductive and Abortion Rights in Nicaragua written by Bradshaw et al. The study by Bradshaw et.al. draws on a number of interviews with female leaders during 2005 and 2007 (Bradshaw et al. 2008, p.57). What becomes clear when reading Bradshaw et.al. is that even among different women activists, a common understanding of what gendered rights constitute is impossible to assume. Instead, a lot of understandings and discourses are competing within these movements. (Bradshaw et al. 2008, p. 59). This aspect, reveals the deep complexity of this subject that Htun’s work already depicted once again. WH Y S TUDY AB ORTI ON? The question of abortion has been studied and acknowledged in academia in a widespread of forms by different scholars. Abortion is understood as a controversial question in huge parts of the world. The subject is an object for debate for both for religious and political reasons internationally. At the same time, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the lack of access to safe abortions is causing serious harm to women. Up to 13 % of all maternal deaths were effects of unsafe abortions in 2008. These deaths could have been prevented if the right health skills and a safe environment had been available (WHO, 2008, p.1). Due to these numbers, the empirical reasons for a closer study of a country that prohibits all types of abortion are obvious. Another aspect that confirms the subject’s relevance for the field of Development Studies becomes clear when United Nations’ sustainable development goals are being studied. Goal number 5, (achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls), involves a paragraph about access to sexual and reproductive health. The current situation in Nicaragua regarding abortion can be understood as an example of the challenges the world stand in front of if we want to achieve this goal. This also confirms that the subject is highly relevant for the Development Studies field (United Nations). WH Y S TUDY NI CARA GUA? There are many examples of countries with notable abortion laws, so why Nicaragua? The most important reason was found when reading a report from The Guttmacher Institute (a leading policy and research organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights). According to this organization, it is possible to speak about a slow but steady trend toward liberalization of restrictive abortion laws in the world. Between year 2000 and 2017, 27 countries in the world expanded the legal grounds for abortion. Only one country did the opposite and changed
its law from restricted access to a total prohibition – Nicaragua (Guttmacher Institute, 2018). The fact that Guttmacher institute describes Nicaragua as the single exception from a steady trend provide natural reasons for arguing that the abortion situation in Nicaragua can be understood as an ‘abnormal case’ and therefore also an interesting and relevant research object. In other words, the fact that Nicaragua’s development is very different to the majority of the countries in the world when it comes to abortion laws makes the country’s abortion debate exceedingly interesting to study closer.
In this section, the framework that will work as a tool for the qualitative text analysis will be described, explained and illustrated. As shortly described in the introduction, in her article published 2014 Silke Heumann analyzes how actors within the women’s rights movement in Nicaragua are framing particular issues related to their work. One of the issues Heumann looks at, that will be given specific attention in this study, is the right to abortion. Heumann distinguishes three groups of actors by evaluating material from 30 in-depth interviews with women’s rights, sexual rights and reproductive rights activists conducted between 2003 and 2008. She explains that the groups have a lot of common features and are crossing over in many aspects. These categorizations will be the comparison point for this study and therefore a more detailed description of them was considered to be necessary. THE NEEDS - BAS ED A PPR OAC H TO AB O RTI ON , “THE POVER TY FRAM E ” To begin, it is important to mention that Heumann describes this group of actors as the ones dominating the debate in Nicaragua during the time she conducted her material (2003-2008) (Heumann, 2014, p.338). According to Heumann, these actors note that women in Nicaragua are deprived access to sexuality education and contraceptives, that the available possibilities for illegal abortion can cause serious harm, and that women often are forced to carry the burden of motherhood alone due to male irresponsibility. Heumann explains that it is in the light of these factors that the actors within the “poverty frame” are arguing for access to abortion. Therefore, the main argument for abortion within this group is that it solves a serious public-health problem in the context of poverty (Ibid).
unconditional abortion rights. This absolute unconditionality was even expressed to be the dividing line between the actors within the ‘autonomy frame’ and others according to Heumann (Ibid). Some similarities Heumann notices with the respondents categorized within ‘the poverty frame’ and these actors are their views on sex and sexual preference. To start with, both the groups mainly think about sex in relation to the problems and threats it can pose to women. Heumann calls this a ‘sex- negative’ approach. Moreover, the actors within the ‘autonomy frame’ also have an apolitical perspective on the private according to Heumann. Hence, this sphere is not understood as an area for political debate or transformation. Instead, the state is perceived as the most influential actor regarding potential reforms. Lastly, in line with the actors within the ‘poverty frame’, sexual rights are framed as specific and narrow among this group of actors. They give lower priority to these issues than to feminist rights, that are framed as more comprehensive according to Heumann (Heumann, 2014, p.341). THE COLLEC TI VE RI GHTS A PPR OAC H TO ABO RTI O N, “THE PERS O NAL - I S - POLI TI CA L FRAM E ” Heumann argues that she identified another group of actors within the women’s rights movement that she describes as the “least influential” out of the three (Heumann, 2014, p.335). Just as the actors within the ‘autonomy frame’, this group also identifies with feminism according to Heumann. They also share the feminist analysis made by the actors within ‘the autonomy frame’ regarding the problematization of abortion as an expression of female oppression. However, she argues that the group differs from the others regarding their view on the private and emotional sphere that they, in contrast to the others, understand as exceedingly political (Heumann, 2014, p.341-342). This means that even if the actors within the ‘personal-is-political-frame’ also acknowledge the power of the state and the need of legal reforms to achieve change, the group also demands ‘bottom- up’ work on a personal level. According to Heumann, these actors argue that there are internalized negative values and associations in the personal and emotional context, that do not disappear automatically because of a law reform. The acknowledgment of the private sphere as a medium for political debate can be understood as the biggest difference between this group and the two earlier groups (Heumann, 2014, p.343). Heumann argues that these actors consider sexuality and sexual rights a top priority in the political debate. Consequently, sexuality is not only thought about in relation to problems and threats among
this group. Instead, the actors argue for ‘the right to pleasure’, which can be understood as a ‘sex- positive’ approach compared to the approaches dominating the other two groups (Heumann, 2014, p.342). Based on Heumann’s article, an analytical framework has been developed that was used when the relevant documents were analyzed and organized. Hopefully, this framework can also be useful to get a comprehensible overview of the three approaches and how they differ and are linked to each other. It is of importance to emphasize that the following analytical framework is a simplification and a generalization of Heumann’s study. It is solely based on my interpretation of Heumann’s text, hence misunderstandings can possibly been made. Moreover, as already mentioned these categories are not this separated from each other in reality, rather they should be understood as relatively fluid. “The Poverty Frame” “The Autonomy Frame” “The Personal is Political Frame” The view on feminism: Not self-identifying with feminism Self-identifying with feminism Self-identifying with feminism The main argument against the abortion ban: A public health problem - Endangers the safety and health of women, especially the poor ones A feminist problem - an expression of the oppression against women, a matter of autonomy and control A feminist problem - an expression of the oppression against women, a matter of autonomy and control Supports unconditional abortion access: No Yes Yes The perception of the private sphere: An apolitical sphere, not an object for debate An apolitical sphere, not an object for debate An exceedingly political sphere The privileged site of power and reform: The state (top-down perspective) The state (top-down perspective) The state (top-down perspective) + the
This is also the reason why Heumann keeps her respondents anonymous in her work from 2014, which becomes clear in the following statement: “As a result of the ongoing persecution of feminist leaders, respondents are not named (...)” (Heumann, 2014, p.336). In the following section, a brief description of the cases and the documents will be made. MOVI M I ENTO AUT ÓNOM O D E MUJ ERES DEL NI CARAG UA The first document that has been looked at comes from the organization Movimiento Autónomo de Mujeres de Nicaragua or the Autonomous Women’s Movement as it is called in English (MAM). MAM is a movement that has been studied by other scholars interested in women’s rights mobilization in Nicaragua. It is for example mentioned and studied in the previously presented article done by Heumann 2014, but also in an article by Nadine Jubb from 2014 Love, Family Values and Reconciliation for All, but What about Rights, Justice and Citizenship for Women? The FSLN, the Women’s Movement, and Violence against Women in Nicaragua. Moreover, Bradshaw et.al. describes MAM as “One of the leading and most vocal groups around the issue of abortion” in their article (Bradshaw et al, 2008, p.62,). Based on the work from these scholars, it is possible to argue that MAM’s arguments against the abortion ban are of importance in the debate. The latest document that was found on the movement’s website was a declaration published in conjunction with 8th of March 2014 called Este ocho de marzo, dia internacional de las mujeres: ¡En rebeldía, por nuestros cuerpos, por el país que queremos! (My translation: This 8 of March, the International Women’s day: The rebellion’s day for our bodies, for the country we want!). This document will be the basis for the analysis of this movement. CATÓLI CAS PO R EL DERECHO A DECI DI R Another document that has been analyzed is derived from an organization called Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir (Catholics for the Right to Choose, CDD). Even if Heumann does not take this organization into account in her article it is reasonable to think it could contribute to an interesting and relevant perspective. Moreover, it seems to play a significant role in the debate. In Marysa Navarro’s and María Consuelos chapter of the book Women’s Activism in Latin America and the Caribbean: Engendering Social Justice, Democratizing Citizenship , a detailed description of
Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir is given. The movement is described as an international network composed of organizations from many countries in Latin America, including Nicaragua. Navarro and Mejía define CDD’s participation in feminist conferences as ‘highly valued’, because of the combination of feminism and Catholicism they use in their language (Navarro and Mejía, 2010, p.312). In the light of this description of CDD, it is possible to understand the movement as relevant to my study. On CDD’s website, a document from 2016 was found, called Aborto Terapéutico: una decisión de vida (Therapeutic abortion: a life decision). In this document, the movement describes their opinions on the abortion prohibition. Considering the late character and relevance of this document, it has been used as the basis for my analysis of CDD. MOVI M I ENTO FEM I NI S TA DE NI CARAG UA Movimiento Feminista, (Feminist Movement from Nicaragua, MF) is a cooperation network between 17 different women’s rights movements in Nicaragua, all with different origins and compositions. The network includes a wide range of movements, for example, a movement that is focusing on young girls’ rights, one that is focusing on women working in the ‘informal sector’ and one with focus on rights for Caribbean women. On the platform that the 17 movements share a document from 2016 was found, called El Estado de Nicaragua viola la libertad y seguridad de las mujeres (The Nicaraguan state violates the female liberty and security). This document represents the movement as a whole and not a particular sub-movement. In the text, MF describes their ideas and opinions about the prohibition of abortion, hence, it was understood as relevant for this study. PROG RAM A FEM I NI S TA CENTROAM E RI CAN O LA CORRI ENTE One of the 17 movements involved in MF is Programa Feminista Centroamericano La Corriente (Central American Feminist Program La Corriente). La Corriente is a relatively young movement, founded 1994 in Managua. The movement only consists of 6 workers, but do a lot of collaborations with other smaller associations across the country (Portocarrero, 2014). Despite the modest size of the movement it seems to be at least one person who is good at updating websites in La Corriente’s team. It was easy to find well-formulated and modern documents at La Corriente’s website, which was not the case with all of the movements that have been looked at. By the 17 movements mentioned at the web page of MF, La Corriente was the only one who had an updated (later than
In the case of this essay, the two dimensions that will work as focal points are the first and the second dimension. To locate the main arguments against the prohibition of abortion within women’s rights movements the second dimension, with focus on the text itself, will be used. When it comes to potential changes and similarities and the relevant standpoints a more actor- focused perspective will be applied. Hence, regarding the second research question of this study, the first dimension described by Widén will work as the basis. Widén also mentions that one crucial part of the making of a viable qualitative text analysis is to formulate critical questions that will be “asked” to the text (Widén, 2015, p.182). These questions vary depending on which of the aforementioned dimensions that will be in focus in the qualitative analysis (Widén, 2015, p.183- 184). The questions that have been asked in this study are focusing on the aspects mentioned in the theoretical framework. These include how the relevant movement perceives feminism, what its main argument against the abortion prohibition is, if it argues for a total legalization of abortion, how it perceives the private sphere, what site of power it perceives as the most important, how it perceives female sexuality, and how it perceives sexual rights. Moreover, Widén states that a qualitative text analysis can be applied to many different forms of texts (Widén, 2015, p.180). In this case, the texts that have been analyzed are different forms of public argumentative documents. They differ regarding form and objective but they share a certain level of subjectivity and all of them should be understood as exceedingly political. Widén’s chapter also involves a description of the central steps in a qualitative text analysis. This description has worked as the basis for my study. According to him, the first step is to formulate the central question of the study based on personal interest and knowledge. A comprehensive literature search is helpful to get an overall understanding of the subject and delimitate the broader field (Widén, 2015, p.185). Next step is to find suitable empirical text material that is possible to collect and that is helpful for analyzing the problem and answering the central question. Widén explains that one way to find the material is to search in databases (Widén, 2015, p.186). However, in the case of my work, most of the material has been found with help from earlier research on the subject. Through the study by Heumann, it was possible to distinguish some central movements in the Nicaraguan abortion debate. When these movements were identified, I searched for material from them through Google’s main search service.
According to Widén, the succeeding step involves the creation of analytical themes that help to sort out the most relevant material (Widén, 2015, p.188). In the case of my study, the time aspect was the most important factor when it came to narrow down the material. The goal was to use text documents as modern as possible. Hence, it was chosen to filter the Google results so they only involved results from 2014 and onwards. However, due to the lack of available and relevant material (described further in the ‘Case-section’), this step was not of great necessity for this study. The next step described by Widén is to do a detailed analysis of the material that has been found (with the focus on the dimension/dimensions that have been chosen). This step also involves reading, categorizing and analyzing the collected material (Widén, 2015, p.188-189). In the light of this, it is of importance to mention that all my material has been written in Spanish and that all translations to English have been done by me. Since Spanish is only my third language this could mean potential misunderstandings or misinterpretations, even if the goal has been to avoid this as much as possible.
In this section, two terms that can be perceived as vague and contested are explained further. The first term that deserves a further explanation is therapeutic abortion. This term has been given different meanings depending on context. However, a recurring feature of the term is that it involves the claim of a restricted right to abortion, in other words, the claim that abortion only should be allowed under particular conditions. Hence, this is the way the term should be understood in this essay. More precisely, therapeutic abortion is defined as the demand of abortion only under certain circumstances , in this study. The second term that needs to be clarified is feminism. A reasonable theory is that the meaning, the perceptions and the associations of feminism vary considerably depending on context. Due to the complexity of the term, and the impossibility to ask all relevant actors for their specific understandings of it, the term will not be given a special definition in this study. Instead, the focus will be on if the actors use the term feminism in their argumentation and if they identify themselves as feminists, no matter what they actually mean by the term.
(My translation): “We are living in a country that claims equality, but that is legalizing against the lives of the women. With the prohibition of abortion, the state does not protect the total integrity or the lives of girls and women that are pregnant as a result of a violation. Neither the state assures humanized attention to the women due to complications of abortion. This is one of the most serious violations committed against the women”^4 (Movimiento Autónomo De Mujeres, 2014, p.1). However, MAM also argues against the abortion ban in the light of female freedom and independence and the right to take decisions over your own body. They argue that the prohibition of abortion is problematic because it is an expression of state control over the female body, no matter what consequences it leads to. When this is considered, it is possible to argue that MAM does not only understand the abortion ban as a public health problem but also as a feminist problem. The following extract can be understood as an example of this view: (My translation): “Our rebellion goes from our bodies to the public. Free and plural bodies. We have claimed the right to pleasure, joy, rebellion, and transgression. We defend with passion and conviction the right to live free of violence, to enjoy our sexual rights and reproductive rights, including the right to decide on eroticism and motherhood with freedom and autonomy”^5 (Movimiento Autónomo De Mujeres, 2014, p. 2 ). Regarding the question about unconditional support, MAM’s document does not describe their standpoint explicitly. However, even if the latest quote above does not contain a concrete policy proposal it is the closest MAM’s document gets to suggesting a reform. It can be perceived as if MAM implicitly tells the reader that abortion should be a decision for the independent woman, not (^4) “Vivimos en un país donde se proclama la igualdad, pero se legisla en contra de la vida de las mujeres. Junto con la penalización del aborto, el Estado no protegeni tutela la integridad y la vida de niñas y de mujeres embarazadas a consecuencia de una violación; tampoco asegura atención humanizada a las mujeres por complicaciones de aborto. Ésta es una de las más graves violencias cometidas en contra de las mujeres”. (^5) “Nuestras rebeldías van desde nuestros cuerpos a lo público. Cuerpos libres y plurales. Hemos reivindicado el derecho al placer, a la alegría, a la rebeldía y a la transgresión. Defendemos con pasión y convicción el derecho a vivir libres de violencia, disfrutar nuestros derechos sexuales y derechos reproductivos, incluido el derecho a decidir sobre el erotismo y la maternidad con libertad y autonomía”.
something that the state is involved in. Moreover, there are no implications on the opposite (no suggestions of that abortion only should be legal under certain circumstances). Thus, it is possible to argue that MAM supports an unlimited access to abortion without state restrictions. Regarding female sexuality and sexual rights some interesting findings have been made. The fact that MAM’s declaration involves an acknowledgment of women’s right to enjoy their sexual rights and the right to pleasure is another worth further analysis. It implicates that MAM understands the female sexuality as an object of political debate and not just a personal issue. Another factor that contributes to this understanding is that MAM mentions the private sector as a political area. This is done in one of the extracts quoted earlier, translated as follows by me: “With democracy and respect for the human rights, women and feminists are proud to be the only social movement that, despite the old and new obstacles, has remained denouncing authoritarian powers, both in the public and in the private sector”. Moreover, a possible interpretation of that MAM claims their sexual rights is that the movement possesses a ‘sex-positive approach’. This means that they not only connect sex to threats and risks for women but also female pleasure. The fact that MAM argues that the private sphere is a political area have other implications worth mentioning. It can be understood as if MAM means that state reforms from a ‘top down perspective’ not are enough and that they also demand work on the personal level to achieve real change in Nicaragua. CATÓLI CAS PO R EL DERECHO A DECI DI R The second document that has been looked at is an informative text from the Catholic organization Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir (CDD). Regarding the question of feminism, nothing is mentioned in the document, neither in a positive or a negative way. Hence, there are no explicit signs that CDD self-identifies with the feminist movement. It is possible to argue that CDD’s main argument against the abortion prohibition is based on the consequences of the law. These consequences are mainly related to the health and security impacts that the law has. For example, CDD argues that instead of reducing the numbers of abortions, the prohibition leads to women resorting to unsafe methods and abortions exerted by unprofessional persons, which can be a huge risk. It is also mentioned that the maternal mortality in Nicaragua has increased since the law was implemented and that a legalization of therapeutic abortion could decrease this number.
