In Central America, three of the five countries criminalize abortion in all circumstances, even when the pregnant woman’s life is in danger or she has suffered sexual violence. Transfeminicides and police violence against sex workers are bloody and daily
Historically, sexuality has been one of the territories of conflict in which the State, religion and the market have had clear interests and agendas. Institutions such as heterosexual marriage, motherhood and the figure of the housewife have aimed to naturalize the gender system and the control of bodies.
Women and dissidents of heterosexuality and normative gender have personally suffered violence and political interventions on their desires and lives. They are bodies that are violated, medicalized, intervened, corrected, stigmatized and excluded.
As decolonial and black feminists propose, this system, which is not only heteropatriarchal, but also capitalist and colonial, has oppressed differently according to gender, skin color, origin, ethnicity, and economic class. This is how the control of reproduction and sexuality translates into the criminalization of abortion and forced sterilization; two strategies with the same objective.
This is neither a distant nor an old reality. Without going any further, let us recall the attempt to approve the Gallardón Law a few years ago in Spain. And currently, the anti-rights control policy continues to work towards the elimination of the Equality Councils, the prohibition of sex education or the systematic denial of gender violence.
In Central America, brutal violence against women’s bodies leaves frightening figures. The bodies of racialized women, trans people and lesbians are among the most attacked and controlled by the State and militarization. In Central America, three of the five countries criminalize abortion in all circumstances, even when the life of the pregnant woman is in danger or she has suffered sexual violence. Transfeminicides and police violence against sex workers are bloody and daily.
Anti-rights lobbies collude with Central American governors to approve restrictive laws that violate the fundamental rights to live without violence, to decide about one’s own body, to access sexual health services and the right to pleasure. Many of these lobbies have significant sources of funding and important links to the European right. Sexual health is not trivial, the control of organizations is linked to the control of territory, labor and natural resources.
Central America remains a contested territory, with fragile democracies and dictatorships, but none of this happens without a reaction from feminist movements. For decades, Central American feminism has managed to make visible the violation of human rights; denaturalize gender-based violence through hard work of awareness, support and dissemination in neighborhoods and communities; They have accompanied thousands of women to abortion despite the threat of prison, and they have continued to talk about the right to pleasure. In short, they have carried out a joyful activism that has saved thousands of women and presented specialized reports to the United Nations to document the failures.
The feminist and LBTIQ+ movement has been at the forefront of denouncing, but also of welcoming and caring for others. There have been advances and setbacks. Changes are not permanent, as we know well in Central America.
In Honduras, after more than a decade of work, they managed to decriminalize emergency contraception. Salvadoran women managed to get many women accused of having abortions out of prison thanks to the criminal law that sentenced them to up to 40 years in prison, and they denounce the militarization and the closure of democratic spaces. In Costa Rica, the legalization of equal marriage and the recognition of sex workers as contributors to the social security fund were achieved.
In Nicaragua, feminists have denounced the sexual violence perpetrated by Ortega for years. They have highlighted the government’s violence and continue to accompany the families of political prisoners, denouncing the crimes and organizing even in exile. In Guatemala, community feminists have taught us a lot about territory, the body and the land, as well as the fundamentals of defending natural goods from a decolonial and anti-racist perspective.
This dignified rage and resilience have come at a high cost to defenders. They have faced smear campaigns, harassment and persecution. According to the Mesoamerican Women Defenders Initiative report, 190 women defenders have been murdered in the last ten years.
At Calala Women’s Fund, we know that equality and social justice are driven by grassroots and community feminisms. It is lesbians, Indigenous peoples, trans people, non-binary people, people of African descent, women with disabilities, sex workers, and young people who continue to expand the agendas and imaginations of what is possible.
These groups, historically ignored and overlooked, help us question what we mean by normality and expand our vision beyond gender and genitals. At Calala, we are clear that our goal is to contribute to ensuring that these groups, networks and organizations of women and LBTIQ+ people can continue to exist and fight to defend human rights, justice and equality; so that they have the power to decide the life they want. A tireless, creative and embodied work because, never better said, our lives happen there.
