For this issue of Fire This Time, we spoke with Dr. Belén Carcedo, a general practitioner and family doctor in the province
of Córdoba, Argentina and member of the Network of Health Professionals for the Right to Decide, as well as a political and
feminist militant with a long history of working together with social movements and with the Campaign for Legal, Safe and Free Abortion. Ana Laura Torres, our co-fighter and a revolutionary feminist and social justice organizer in Argentina, spoke with Dr. Carcedo, and transcribed her important reflections about the victory of women in Argentina for the right to choose.
Dr. Belén Carcedo: “Regarding the enactment of the law into practice, it begins to be guaranteed little by little, progressively but quite quickly, in all public and private health centers. It is not only that it has been legalized, but that all people and health centers must offer the possibility. It is not only that people who were already seeking an abortion can safely access abortion, but also now a pregnant person who is not asking for an abortion is also given the information. This opens the range of possibilities to people who were doubting, or those that had already made the decision but did not dare to ask for help, etc. Therefore, this categorically reduces unsafe abortions, decreases the possibility that a person will carry out a practice in a clandestine and unsafe way and put their life, their personal health at risk.
The law means that in every corner and the most remote places of the country there is now process in place to make sure that there
will be someone, a health professional, who guarantees the practice. The previous legal framework, which allowed for legal interruption of pregnancy due to specific causes, which was what we had prior to the voluntary interruption of pregnancy law, people had to travel a lot to be able to reach large cities to access legal abortion services. Today the reverse is being achieved little by little. People can stay in their local area because there is someone who guarantees the practice, at most they may have to travel to the next town, but not much more.
In terms of whether this works for other countries: of course. We have already seen that the Green Tide in 2018 transcended borders. The feminist movement and the women’s movement are global and go far beyond the limits of common historical agreement that we have by dividing pieces of land. This has to do with linking, it has to do with networks. Both with networks of people and now also with social networks and the media that allow this to expand, spread and travel, as a powerful energy to all parts of the world and to corners and places where we did not even imagine it could reach. Mobilizations will arise from the impulse, from seeing that it is possible, that it is achievable, that something concrete is reached that makes sense, that is worthwhile. All that will be shown in this process that we live here in Argentina and, of course, it is expanding.”
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