Protestos opostos ao longo do tempo : o caso da disputa pelo direito ao aborto na Argentina

Abstract

In February 2018, the National Campaign for Legal, Safe and Free Abortion held a massive protest in front of the Argentinian Congress, and a few days later, President Mauricio Macri decided to allow legislative discussion on the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Bill. The decision triggered a series of mobilizations for and against the right to abortion that included a wide repertoire of confrontation and several demands linked to the dispute over the right to abortion. Despite the unprecedented intensity and visibility that this contentious cycle acquired, it was not the first time that the two movements that called for these protests had met. Based on actions previous to 2018, this research seeks to answer two main questions: 1) How have opposing protests around the right to abortion in Argentina developed over time? And 2) What have been the main political opportunities that contributed to the development of these opposing protests and how have they been taken advantage of by both opposing sides? We used the research methodology called Protest Events Analysis to study the opposing protests around the right to abortion in Argentina during the period between the launch of the aforementioned Campaign – 2005 – and the legislative debate – 2018 –, which implied the creation of a database around these protests. Additionally, due to the nature of our object of study, we analyzed the results as from the literature around the dynamics between opposing movements, which point to the existence of reciprocal influences regarding, among other aspects, the protest repertoire and the agenda of both movements. The main results of our research show that: 1) in general, protests for the right to abortion in Argentina were more frequent than protests against it, but both tended to increase and decrease simultaneously over time in moments of, respectively, greater and lesser conflict between the Catholic Church and the national government; 2) in addition to the dispute over the legalization of abortion itself, the protests around the access to non-punishable abortion were quite frequent over time, as initiatives aimed at obstructing this access influenced on the priorities of the agenda of organizations in favor of the right to abortion – insofar as they had to defend an acquired right that was being threatened; 3) although, on several occasions, the movements acted in the same arenas and employing the same tactics, extra-institutional protests were notably more frequent in demonstrations for the right to abortion, whereas, until 2017, protests against the right to abortion were predominantly through institutional channels; 4) although both opposing sides tended to act and interact at different levels, the protests for the right to abortion took place predominantly in the city of Buenos Aires, while, with the exception of 2018, the protests opposed to the right happened more frequently in other provinces – and they were mainly oriented to obstruct access to non-punishable abortions; 5) unlike the other side, the demands for the right to abortion were present, quite frequently, in protests convened by other causes – including, by some that, in principle, would not have much connection with it. We conclude that the protests against the legalization of abortion notably influenced the agenda of the pro-abortion protests, but had less influence on tactics. While protesters for the right to abortion took advantage of the climate of social mobilization that exists in Argentina to take their claims to other agendas, anti-abortion activists took advantage of the long delays presented by the judicial system to obstruct, through litigation, the access to non-punishable abortions in different parts of the country.