#LegalAbortion "The Senate voted to keep everything the same, but nothing will ever be the same again."
Why this struggle for the right to decide over our own bodies didn't fail, but rather emerged as a historical turning point. Greta Pena
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By Greta Pena*
Photo: Ariel Gutraich
For women's rights and sexual minorities, nothing will ever be the same, even if the Senate believes it voted to maintain the status quo. When a segment of society breaks through the veil of oppression and decides to fight for its rights, there is no turning back. It is only a matter of time and the political situation crystallizing.
It is true that the deeply personal act of abortion will continue to be regulated by the State, that our bodies will continue to be considered, under the law, as objects of religious mandates and forced motherhood. Our legislators settled the debate in favor of criminalization, which has proven to be a resounding failure, even acknowledged by those who oppose Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy (VIP), because this is the inevitable result when attempts are made to strip people of their autonomy and freedom. And this is tragic, because this failure will take with it the lives and health of those of us who will not relinquish that freedom.
But it is also clear that the feminist movement is, by far, the most dignified, intelligent, and courageous political and social proposal for confronting the injustices of a patriarchal and exclusionary system. It is revolutionizing the Argentine political system, it has thrown it into crisis, and this goes beyond abortion—the deepest form of domination and the greatest disciplining of our bodies—because it has exposed a matrix of inequality that cuts across social conditions, sexual orientation and gender identity, ethnicity, immigration status, and so on.
The fight for the legalization of abortion was also LGBTI]
This struggle for the right to decide over our own bodies didn't fail; rather, it emerged as a historical turning point. Just look at the amount of information about access to abortion that reached even the most remote corners of the country, the networks of sisterhood, and the experience gained by young people who took to the streets, universities, schools, and workplaces.
[SEE MORE: #LegalAbortion: Transfeminisms abort submission]]
The sexual diversity movement contributed as a dissenting group against biological and patriarchal mandates, but perhaps the space for other pregnant bodies was not made visible in the Senate. The gender identity law, for example, was only mentioned once. More work needs to be done.
[READ MORE: There's a lesbian in my campaign for legal abortion]
It will be law, without a doubt. Our society already has a different understanding of bodies, desires, affections, and identities, something that a short-sighted Congress failed to grasp.
Greta Pena is a lesbian lawyer, feminist and activist for 100% Diversity and Rights.
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