Las Libres

Founded in 2000 by Veronica Sanchez and other activists, Las Libres is a feminist organization whose focus is centered around promoting, and defending the social and legal rights of women in Guanajuato and across the country. Las Libres was created in response to a state bill enacted by the Guanajuato State Congress, which intended to revoke the right of abortion in cases of rape. The bill was passed without outside knowledge from organizations, activists or the general population, and as a result created a mobilization towards its removal. The pressure put on the government by activist organizations domestically and internationally resulted in a vetoing of the bill. As an organization they focus on educating communities within Guanajuato and beyond as well as providing resources for individuals who are seeking abortions or legal recourse and assistance. In analyzing the focus of Las Libres, as an organization which still currently struggles with the criminalization of abortion, their strategies and goals can be measured against the current social and political climate and perspectives on abortion and reproductive rights. As an organization they focus on educating communities within Guanajuato and beyond as well as providing resources for individuals who are seeking abortions or legal recourse and assistance. The information provided here was gathered from the Las Libres website and was translated and reproduced from its original language of Spanish into English. Additional commentary was provided to analyze the effects of the policies within this organization. 

Education 

"We disseminate  information on the human rights of women, girls and children, through talks, workshops, conferences, forums and discussion groups in communities, schools and public spaces. In order for women to know their rights and learn to exercise them in their lives we promote: the construction of equitable relationships between men and women in everyday life, a life free from violence for women and agency over your own bodies and the full exercise of sexuality in a safe, enjoyable and responsible manner." (1)

Las Libres emphasis on education is a vital component in the effort towards securing reproductive rights and eliminating the stigma surrounding abortion. In areas where abortion has not been decriminalized the existence of anti-abortion propaganda can hinder the dissemination of information and ease the spread of misinformation. Circulating accurate information and presenting sexual and reproductive health as a right for individuals from various communities increases awareness about what options and resources are available to them. 

Accompaniment

"Every woman who comes to Las Libres, is confident that together we will find a solution or alternative to their situation, because we believe in the word of women, we put ourselves on their side, not the judge, we understand and listen. We provide all technical, legal and social tools for her to decide to help, which serves to improve, you need to continue and how far you want to go."(1)

Las Libres utilizes accompaniment as a community networking tool for advocating for the reproductive rights of individuals by focusing on their emotional, legal and physical well being and safety. Accompaniment is a resource aimed at helping individuals access safe medical abortions in ways that support and reassures patients in person and through various technological means such as texts, emails and phone calls and presents options objectively that allow individuals to arrive at their own conclusions about what recourses to take. 

This video documents the successful accompaniment network model developed by Las Libres to support women in the restrictive State of Guanajuato through the process of medical abortion. Women share their own stories of how accompaniment helped them obtain access and support for medical abortion and why the network is critical to women's reproductive health and lives.(1) This video as well as the other pieces of informational media produced by the organization assist in dispersing materials for other organizations to utilize as resources in order to strengthen their support for reproductive justice. This film was produced by Gustavo Montana and was created in collaboration with IPAS. 

Defense

"Las Libres works towards advancing the rights of women, specifically sexual and reproductive rights, and securing them in the house and the Senate so that every woman can access and exercise all of their rights without concessions. To defend these rights in Las Libres means generating positive public opinion permanently and ensuring that the state does not revert the rights won by women in their efforts to combat gender discrimination." (1)

Las Libres have been a very active and vocal group in their quest for legal justice. To underline Las Libres successes in securing legal aid for individuals who wish to exercise their right to abortions and healthcare one merely has to recall the law case involving seven women from Guanajuato who were imprisoned under the pretext of infanticide and homicide of a family member. According to an article in The Times, Veronica Cruz, director of Las Libres, and other activists " discovered that women were being imprisoned for up to 30 years. In reviewing the law code, Cruz discovered that this offense was not a crime which was defined in the legal statutes. Cruz and Las Libres assisted in funding and support for the 2010 legal proceedings that reduced the sentences of the women and aided in their release." (2) This particular case illustrates the struggles faced by feminist organizations and their effective strategies as they work within the legal structures of anti-abortion states.

Image from the 2014 film Las Libres: La Historia Despues, co-produced by Veronica Cruz. 

Management 

"The advancement of the rights of women means that in every home, family, school, community and public or private institution, people learn and recognize that women, like men, are human, complete beings, and subjects with rights. We have the right to have rights and that to change of mentality of a new culture, which is based on gender equality, mainly depends on all men knowing that women are people like themselves, neither more nor less. In order to start creating common ground it is necessary that men begin to assume their reproductive responsibility, their responsibility for the care and upbringing of their children, their responsibility for domestic work and the distribution of public power. Solving the issue of violence against women begins the day we start to recognize that women are not responsible for the violence they experience. That responsibility comes from believing that men are superior to women and that they have to fulfill the mandates of gender unquestioningly, such as compulsory maternity and domestic work as just being for women."(1)

Not only is it vital for feminist organizations to target the legal and economic aspects of reproductive rights and abortion but it is also important to address the underlying social context in which these issues have been formed in order to combat them from the root. Targeting the ideological processes surrounding abortion carves a path towards structural change which decriminalization does not entirely address.

Access to Justice 

"Accessing justice means that individuals know their rights, know that they can exercise and can demand them and also recognize that the state has an obligation to guarantee them. With this in mind, Las Libres can assist women in crafting a social, legal or civil complaint, whether against an authority, against her partner, or against an individual and aid in developing social and cultural mechanisms for change within their communities, schools,  families or the entire state. Access to justice for women means that Las Libres will do everything possible or impossible for individuals to access their rights in daily life, in public, socially, politically, economically and structurally."(1)

It's important to analyze Las Libres in comparison with Mexico City  as the state of Guanajuato is looked upon as  "backwards inrespect to sexual and reproductive rights compared with Mexico City, where the human rights of women are a state policy and where society is more educated, more politicized,more conscious, and more civic."(1) Within Guanajuato and other states that have not decriminalized abortion, individuals who wish to pursue their reproductive rights are subjected to the legal system , which often becomes a long and difficult process without resources and assistance. Las Libres ensures that individuals are aware of their rights and understand the ways in which they can put those rights into action. As an organization, not only do they provide the information necessary to make informed decisions about the variety of options individuals have, they also guide them through the steps necessary to achieve their implementation.

Contact Information  

Emails

atencion@laslibres.org.mx

laslibres@laslibres.org.mx

laslibres@hotmail.com

Facebook

www.facebook.com/Las-Libres

Twitter

@LasLibres



(1)"Las Libres – Asociación Civil De Guanajuato." Las Libres – Asociación Civil De Guanajuato. Accessed April 2016. http://www.laslibres.org.mx/.


(2)"Verónica Cruz Sánchez." Wikipedia. Accessed April 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verónica_Cruz_Sánchez.

About Us

We are U.S based college students who are producing this blog for our Gender and Sexuality in Latin America history class at the Claremont College Consortium. While we have examined varying sources such as legal documents and websites about our particular topic in Spanish, for the purpose of this project we have found it more appropriate, based on our individual language proficiencies, to analyze scholarly sources and generate content in English, our native language.

We want to recognize our positionalities within the abortion debate. We are pro-choice advocates who believe that access to safe and legal abortions is a crucial step in the direction of gender equality and reproductive rights. Although we acknowledge that the 2007 decriminalization of abortion in Mexico City was beneficial for people located there, we believe it ultimately had negative national consequences that created greater barriers to abortion access.
We would like to thank our professor, Sarah Sarzynski, for guiding the process of developing, researching, and publishing this project on abortion in Mexico.

Becca Ayala studies Government and History at Claremont McKenna College.

Rachel Bolton studies Politics and Gender Studies at Pitzer College. 

Evelyn Gonzalez studies Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Media Studies at Scripps College.

Timeline

1917—Mexican constitution affirms separation between Catholic Church and government.

1931—Mexican Penal Code declares abortion illegal in all circumstances

1960s—Contraception only accessible with a prescription

1962-1965-- Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church forms Vatican II

1974—La Ley de Población; Programa Nacional de Planificación Familiar’s creation

Constitutional Amendment: Article IV declares, “all individuals have the right to make free, responsible and well informed decisions on the number and spacing of their children.”

1976-1982—11 Mexican states reformed their penal codes to allow abortion for fetal abnormalities, endangerment of women’s health; 25 Mexican states reformed their penal codes to allow abortions for pregnancies as a result of rape

1978—Pro-Vida founded; anti-abortion group

1981-- Human Life International founded as a pro-life Catholic based organization throughout spanish-speaking countries; partnered with Pro-Vida in Mexico.

1982—Presidential-elect De la Madrid proposed the decriminalization of abortion however his proposal was quickly denied with significant pressure from the Catholic Church

1984—The U.S. Mexico City Policy/Global Gag Rule prevents the use of USAID money to distribute information on abortions and to perform abortions

1994—The United Nations Conference on Population and Development (Cairo), which significantly mobilized women and political groups around reproductive rights throughout Latin America

1994-- Católcas por el Derecho a Decidir formed; International Catholic pro-choice group chapter in Mexico

1991—Grupo de Informacion en Reproduccion Elegida (GIRE) founded

1992—The Catholic Church granted permission to participate in politics and society

1992—the Information Group on Reproductive Choice (GIRE) is founded

1998—Mexico City reformed the Penal Code to permit abortion under extenuating circumstances such as non-consensual artificial insemination, life endangerment, fetal abnormalities, and rape

1999—13 year old rape victim, ‘Paulina,’ forced to give birth; 12-year old girl ‘Lucila’ pregnant by her father and only allowed access to abortion to quiet the media

2000—Vicente Fox wins the presidential election and ends the PRI’s 71-year rule over Mexico; National Poll about Abortion determined that 44% of all Mexicans did not know that abortion is legal in some circumstances (including after rape); Federal Constitution amended to prohibit all discrimination, including sex-based discrimination

2001—Mexico City Policy/Global Gag Rule reinstated

2002—Supreme Court permits women to have abortions in extenuating circumstances

2003—Study demonstrates that 74% of low-income women in Mexico City were unaware that abortion is legal in some circumstances

2004—Emergency Contraception is included in public health services; all states and Mexico City allow abortion in the case of rape

2006—Mexican state recognizes abortion as a basic human right

2007—Mexico City decriminalizes abortion in the first trimester; free abortion services to those without health insurance; expanded sexual health education and programing to prevent unplanned pregnancies

Post-2007—16 Mexican states react to the decriminalization of abortion by reforming State Constitutions to “protect life from the moment of conception”

Additional Resources

So you want to learn more...

• “The Second Assault: Obstructing Access to Legal Abortion after Rape in Mexico”
• El Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida (GIRE) 
• The Guttmacher Institute

Feminist Organizations

• Ipas
• Las Libres
• Mexican Population Council

Religious Organizations

• Comite Nacional Provida Mexico
• Catholics for Choice
• Human Life International

Policy Backlash

Due to the federalist structure of Mexican politics, states have discretion over their state Constitutions and penal codes. There are no standardized abortion laws throughout the thirty-one states and the capital, Mexico City. Since Mexico City changed their abortion laws in 2007, seventeen states have since amended their state Constitutions to protect the fetus from the moment of conception. Furthermore, twelve states prohibit certain contraceptive access, like IUDS. Although Mexico City has decriminalized abortion, their liberalized reproductive policy did not lead other states to do the same. In fact, in the past 5 years since the implementation of the law, 127 women in 19 states were put on trial for their abortions (1). These changes directly react to the liberalization of abortion policy in Mexico City and effectively eliminate the right to abortion following pregnancy from rape, incest, and other life threatening situations.

The policy inconsistency across states limits women’s access to safe and legal abortions. Not only do unstandardized abortion policies make it so that geography determines a woman’s ability to access basic human rights (recognized by international organizations), but it also influences the accessibility of knowledge about these rights.

The lack of standardization of policies obscures rights, where they exist. A 2003 survey determined that 74% of low-income women did not know that abortion is legal in some circumstances and places. Another survey determined that the less aware people are of the legality of abortion, they are three times more likely to be anti-choice than those who are aware of the legality of abortion in certain circumstances. Therefore, not only do the inconsistencies across states of abortion laws play a role in the inaccessibility of abortion, but also so does the inadequate and inaccurate distribution of accurate information about abortion procedures and abortion policy. Inconsistent state policies act as the strategic prevention of abortion access and play into the delay of the information provision.

Even in states with more liberal policies, there are barriers put in place by anti-abortion groups, religious groups, medical physicians, and hospital administrators. While the Mexican government may not directly implement these barriers, the possibilities for the distribution of inaccurate information and significant delays enable anti-abortion groups to prevail by evoking fear and delaying authorization. For example, twenty-nine out of thirty-two states do not have comprehensive guidelines for administrators or professionals, which allows them to obstruct access to legal abortion after rape.

If other countries are considering the decriminalization of abortion, the way Mexico City did in 2007, they need to carefully consider the political system, and the possibility of widespread, accurate information distribution and standardization of policies.

(1) Kari Paul. “The Criminalization of Abortion Continues in Mexico.” Ms. Magazine, May 30, 2013.

State Penal Codes

As a federal system, Mexican abortion policy depends on each state’s penal code and family planning legislation. Due to the existence of religious or feminist organizations, the presence of international organizations, and political elites’ affiliations, abortion policies vary across Mexico’s 32 states.

• Abortion is permitted in the case of rape (valid in all 32 states)
• Abortion is permitted if there is risk of a woman’s death (valid in 24 states)
• Abortion is permitted if pregnancy termination resulted from a “careless act” (valid in 29 states)
• Abortion is permitted if there was non-consensual artificial insemination (valid in 13 states)
• Abortion is permitted for health reasons (valid in 14 states)
• Abortion is permitted if there are fetal malformations (valid in 16 states)
• Abortion is permitted because of financial hardship (valid in 2 states)
• Abortion is valid on demand (valid in 1 state; Mexico City)

To learn more: Interactive Map at GIRE

http://informe2015.gire.org.mx/en/#/increase-in-legal-abortion-indications