APPENDIX 7: Safe Abortion Advocacy from Around the World Chile The Abortion Hotline: Lesbians and Feminist for the Right of Information, Santiago Alongside many Latin American countries, Chile has its own abortion hotline, established in 2009, that operates every evening, Monday to Friday, from 7 p.m to 11 p.m. and provides women with information about how to obtain an abortion. The Abortion Hotline is run by Lesbians and Feminists for the Right to Information. This group of individuals tries to reach marginalized women not only through their hotline, but also through workshops, publicity campaigns and their print manual that explains the proper administration of misoprostol. The organization has a largely online presence, but decided to expand in hopes of reaching women who might not necessarily have access to the internet and/or a computer. The organization aims to reach these women in two ways: workshops and the manual. The manual, specifically, is given to a lot of different organizations which work with women or community libraries and so the organization is able to reach different groups of women. The workshops have been directed at women who work with other women, which was determined to be the easiest way for them to have a bigger impact. For example, a woman who worked with migrant workers attended one of their workshops and they hoped this would allow them to indirectly benefit the migrant workers with whom she works.
CUDS - Colectivo Universitario de Disidencia Sexual, Santiago The Abortion Hotline profiled above works closely with CUDS, which started as an LGBT organization for lesbian/gay rights and now focuses on sexual dissidence from a queer perspective. In 2012, the organization launched an abortion campaign called “Dona por un aborto illegal” (Donation for an Illegal Abortion) in response to the government’s refusal to even discuss the possibility of legalizing therapeutic abortion. This was an ironic campaign to spark debate in the public arena. The campaign is called ‘For a Better Life, Donate for an Illegal Abortion,’ and the icon is also a foetus. The organization wanted to reappropriate the foetus which is typically the icon for anti-choice people. CUDS asked: why could they not use the foetus as a pro-choice icon? So they made a webpage called “Donate for an Illegal Abortion” where people could actually donate money. To move this debate into public spaces, they made campaign t-shirts and during street appeals they gave donors stickers to put on their clothes, thus making a public intervention in the streets and encouraging discussion.
Huelga de Vientres , Santiago Huelga de Vientres believes that a person cannot speak about abortion decriminalization without addressing patriarchy and the capitalist government systems. Along with launching their own information booklet called “MiCuerpo, MiPrimeraLucha” (My Body, My First Fight), which addresses patriarchy, abortion and contraception, they organize workshops focused on pleasure, care and sexual freedom.
Fiji Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, Suva The Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM) was established in 1986 to advocate for gender equality and women’s youthcoalition.org | 35