User:Ariabd/sandbox

Selecting Possible Articles
Area:

1) Feminism in Chile

2) Women in Chile

3) Human rights in Chile

4) Abortion in Chile

5) Chile's Structure of Feminism

6) Pro-Emancipation Movement of Chilean Women

Sector:

1) Sexual and reproductive health and rights

2) Reproductive rights in Latin America

3) Michelle Bachelet

Edit for Abortion in Chile:

Add to women's health section:

An amendment made by the Chilean government to section 119 of the Health Code in 1989 stated that there could be no actions taken that would induce an abortion. This amendment was made due to the belief that with medical advances in maternal care, abortion was no longer seen as a necessary means of saving a woman's life.

citation:

United Nations Population Division. Abortion policies: A global review. 2002 http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/abortion/abortion-policies-2002.shtmlmajor dimensions of abortion policies. Available at.

Evaluating Articles and Sources
Area Article: Feminism in Chile

While this article has very important aspects of feminism in Chile, it also has quite a few issues. Upon first glance, the structure does not seem sufficient. For example, it is confusing how the history sections are separated into Early history and History - maybe the article would flow better if there were, for example, "Early History" and then "History Continued" or "Later History" as sections? There is also a discussion of the validity of sources used in this article's talk page. Instead of fixing these issues, however, it seems as though most editors have simply flagged the problem sentences such as the sentence "Chile has been known as one of the most socially conservative countries in Latin America" and an editor flagged it by saying, "by whom"? I could add a relevant and important citation to this sentence if it is indeed backed up by facts. Another issue that I found was in the first sentence - "Feminism in Chile has its own liberation language and activist strategies for rights". While this is a provoking first sentence, the next sentences do not provide what actually IS Chile's liberation "language" and activist strategies. This makes the reader a bit confused on what the article is actually pursuing. It has also been mentioned in the talk page that the Chile's Structure of Feminism article should be merged with this one. I would agree with that and could work to merge these two - it does not make sense to have two different articles that both talk about Chile's feminism. Another unfortunate issue I encountered while evaluating this article was blatant plagiarism. Out of curiosity, I clicked on one citation and found that the exact sentence found in the article under the History section, "When Sarmiento as an exile was living in Santiago, he recommended the liberal treatment of women and their entrance to the University", was front and center on the cited article. I will flag this as plagiarism and hopefully find a new way to relay this information. There are also multiple issues grammatically with this article that I can fix. Also, in the Leaders of the Feminist Movement section, this article fails to mention Julieta Kirkwood who, in the first sentence of her own Wikipedia article, is described as "one of the founders and impellers of the Chilean feminist movement in the 1980s). I am disheartened by the lack of effort put into this article (it is rated C-Class) due to the fact that it is a huge topic in Chile and is the main focal point of my PE.

Sector Article: Reproductive rights in Latin America

This article is much more comprehensive (structurally and content wise) than the Feminism in Chile article. One section that I believe I could add to would be the Defining Reproductive Rights section. While the article does give a definition according to the times of the Cold War, I believe a more current definition would be beneficial for readers so that they do not think for the rest of the article that the sole definition of reproductive rights is an attempt to control overpopulation. In the current strategies section, I would like to add information about Chile's new abortion laws which I think are highly relevant - Chile is not even mentioned in this section. In terms of citations, some of the sentences do still require citations to be backed up. I am appreciative that this article has a Religion section, although I do not think that the connections between religion and reproductive rights flow well. Instead it seems as though there is an abrupt section on Latin American Religion put in this article independent of mentioning reproductive rights. The references for this article are all very well sourced, including articles from the WHO and Center for Reproductive Rights. I think that it would be beneficial to add a section on Latin American Reproductive Rights Activist Groups so that readers could gain a greater understanding as to what is currently happening in relation to reproductive rights. The only thing mentioned in the Talk page of this article is notices of copy and pasting (plagiarism) instead of a summarization of knowledge. I think this is an important contribution and will respond to it on the talk page. This article is relevant to the greater scope of my PE and I think that by adding to it I will be able to gain a greater understanding of Reproductive Rights as a whole.

Summarizing and Synthesizing
I have moved over to copy editing as a way to directly summarize and synthesize. '''My contributions are bolded! (I do intend to keep making more edits, but this is my most recent work).'''

 

COPY EDIT OF FEMINISM IN CHILE:


Feminism in Chile has its own liberation language and activist strategies for rights that is shaped by the political, economic, and social system of Chile. Beginning in the 19th century, Chilean women have been organizing with aspirations of asserting their political rights. These aspirations have had to work against the reality that Chile is one of the most socially conservative countries in Latin America. The Círculo de Estudios de La Mujer (Women's Studies Circle) is one example of a pioneering women’s organization during the Pinochet dictatorship (1973–1989) which redefined women's responsibilities and rights, linking “mothers’ rights” to women’s rights and women’s civil liberties. The founding members of the Círculo de Estudios de La Mujer consisted of a small group of Santiago feminists who were from the Academia de Humanismo Cristiano. These women gathered "to discuss the situation of women in Chile," their first meeting grew a crowd of over 300 participants and from there challenged the authoritarian life in Santiago. These women helped shape the rights for women in Chile.

Contents
[[null hide] ]


 * 1Early history of feminism in Chile
 * 2History
 * 3Leaders of the feminist movement
 * 4References
 * 5Sources

Early history of feminism in Chile[edit]
'''With the strong influence of Catholicism in Chile, some of the first feminist movements ironically came from socially conservative women. In 1912, upper class women began to advocate for working class women in a way that was favorable to conservative groups of the time .''' The first female organizations that came to be in Chile started around 1915, but unlike many other countries and their groups, these women were most likely to be in the upper middle class. As such, they were largely able to put together these groups where exploration of the interest in feminism came to be by shedding particular light on the issues that middle to upper-class feminists found to be the most important. One of the earliest examples of this in Chilean history occurred on June 17, 1915, when a young university student, and later a diplomat and suffragist, named Amanda Labarca decided to start a group called the Círculo de Lectura, where she was able to promote Chilean culture towards women. With this, she was able to bring together positivity and change within the women in her community because she strived to ensure that all women could be given a chance to have their voices heard, through education, regardless of their affiliations and social status. Generally speaking, this was what was seen as the beginning of first-wave feminism amongst Chilean women.

History[edit]
The most compactly organized feminist movement in South America in the early 20th century was in Chile. There were three large organizations which represented three different classes of people: the Club de Senoras of Santiago represented the more prosperous women; the Consejo Nacional de Mujeres represented the working class, such as schoolteachers; other laboring women organized another active society for the improvement of general educational and social conditions. The Circulo de Lectura de Senoras was founded in 1915 in Santiago Chile by Delia Matte de Izquierdo. Only one month later, the Club de Senoras was created and founded by Amanda Labarca.

While Chile was very conservative socially and ecclesiastically during this time,[citation needed] its educational institutions were opened to women since around the 1870s. When Sarmiento as an exile was living in Santiago, he recommended the liberal treatment of women and their entrance into the university. This latter privilege was granted while Miguel Luis Amunategui was minister of education. In 1859, when a former minister of education opened a contest for the best paper on popular education, Amunategui received the prize. Among the things which he advocated in that paper was the permitting of women to enter the university, an idea which he had received from Sarmiento. The development of woman's education was greatly delayed by the war between Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. President Balmaceda (1840-1891) was a great friend of popular education. Under him, the first national high school, or "liceo," for girls was opened, in about 1890. By the 1920s, there were 49 national "liceos" for girls, all directed by women. Besides these, there were two professional schools for young women in Santiago and one in each Province.

The Consejo Nacional de Mujeres maintained a home for girls attending the University in Santiago, and helped female students in the capital city. There were nearly a 1,000 young women attending the University of Chile in the early 20th century. The president of the Consejo Nacional was Amanda Labarca Hubertson. She and her husband both were directors of public schools in Santiago. The former was sent to the US by her government in 1914 to study the educational system. She then became very much interested in the feminist movement, and on returning home was called to direct the Woman's Reading Club of Santiago. Their members consisted of impressive upper middle class, aristocratic, women who had a great deal of influence on their communities, including government and private sectors. Labarca wrote several interesting volumes— such as, Actividades femeninas en Estados Unidos (1915), and Andónde va la mujer (1934). She was accompanied in her work by a circle of women, most, of whom were connected with educational work in Chile. Several women's periodicals were published in Chile during this period, one of note being El Pefleca, directed by Elvira Santa Cruz. Labarca is perhaps considered one of Chile's most prominent feminist leaders.

In a 1922 address given before the Club de Senoras of Santiago, Chilean publisher Ricardo Salas Edwards stated the following: "There have been manifested during the last 25 years phenomena of importance that have bettered woman's general culture and the development of her independence. Among them were the spread of establishments for the primary and secondary education of women; the occupations that they have found themselves as the teachers of the present generation, which can no longer entertain a doubt of feminine intellectual capacity; the establishment of great factories and commercial houses, which have already given her lucrative employment, independent of the home; the organization of societies and clubs; and, finally, artistic and literary activities, or the catholic social action of the highest classes of women, which has been developed as a stimulus to the entire sex during recent years."

A new political body was formed in the early 1920s under the name of the Progressive Feminist Party with the purpose of gaining all the rights claimed by women. The platform was:


 * 1) The right to the municipal and parliamentary vote and to eligibility for office.
 * 2) The publishing of a list of women candidates of the party for public offices.
 * 3) The founding of a ministry of public welfare and education, headed by a woman executive, to protect women and children and to improve living conditions.

The founders of the party carried on a quiet campaign throughout the country. No distinction was made between the social positions of party adherents, the cooperation of all branches of feminine activity being sought to further the ends of the party. The press investigated public opinion regarding the new movement. Congress had already received favorably a bill to yield civil and legal rights to women. The greatest pressure was brought to bear to obtain the concession of legal rights to women to dispose of certain property, especially the product of their own work, and the transference to the mother, in the father's absence, of the power to administer the property of the child and the income therefrom until the minor's majority. It was understood that concession of these rights would elevate the authority of the mother and bring more general consideration for women, as well as benefits to family life and social welfare.

In December 1948, the Chilean Congress had approved a bill granting full political rights to the women of Chile.

During Pinochet's dictatorship throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, coalitions and federations of women's groups—not all of which necessarily designated themselves in name as feminists—gathered in kitchens, living rooms, and other non-political arenas to devise strategies of bringing down the dictator's rule. Because political movements, mostly male-dominated, were oppressed nearly out of existence during the dictatorship, women gathered in a political manner outside of what was traditionally male. Through this they created grassroots organizations such as Moviemento pro emancipacio de la Mujer that is credited with directly influencing the downfall of Pinochet. Pinochet's rule also involved mass exile—an estimation of over 200,000 by 1980. While Chilean women were living in exile in Vancouver, Canada, a feminist magazine created by Latinas, called Aquelarrebegan to circulate widely.

'''Even within the feminist community in Chile, there is an overall disagreement as to how feminism has been affected by democracy post dictatorship. Even though more feminist policies were put in place during the 1990s, feminists paradoxically largely lost their voices politically. This reconfiguration of the feminist movement post dictatorship has posed certain challenges to the advancement of feminist ideals. There has been a general trend towards disregarding this moment in the history of feminism in Chile even though there were significant organizations who continued to work towards liberation. In the 1990s, there was often a dichotomy between groups that worked within institutions to instill change, and those who wanted to distance their motives as far away from the patriarchy as possible. While the privileged professors of newly established gender and women's studies programs in universities were given more of a say, the average citizens found that their voices were often muffled and restrained by institutionalized feminism. '''

More recently, the Chilean women's movements continue to advocate for their rights and participation in all levels of the democratic society and through non-governmental organizations. Similarly, a large political barrier for women was broken when Michelle Bachelet became Chile's first female president. Laura Albornoz was also delegated as Minister of Women's Affairs during Bachelet's first term as president. This position's duties includes running the Servicio Nacional de la Mujer or the National Women's Service. Servicio Nacional de la Mujer (SERNAM) - protects women's legal rights in the public sector. In the beginning of its creation, some opinions were that SERNAM organization weakened the women's rights agenda due because it wasn't successful at policy influence. The organization was later found to be successful at creating programs and legislation that promoted the protection of women's rights at work, school and worked to criminalize domestic violence and protection. The success of this organization is debated, but it has made substantial moves to publicize the issues women face across Chile.

'''Motherhood has also been an important aspect of the feminist movement in Chile. Due to the vast influence of Catholicism in the country, the first (1940s) women's centers for mothering began with religious motives. Most of these centers, however, were catered to upper class women, leaving the poorest women the least supported. The Central Organization for Mothers (CEMA) was created in 1954, to "provide spiritual and material well-being to the Chilean women". CEMA worked, more so than other women's centers, to provide services for underprivileged women in Chile. Through motherhood, the Chilean woman has been politicized- not only is she ridiculed for overpopulating a country while given minimal means of reproductive support, but she is also taken as a passive object of governance.'''

Women's access to voting in Chile
  Chile has been considered one of the most socially conservative countries in Latin America. This has been exemplified by women's struggle to gain freedom in terms of voting. The Chilean government esteems Catholicism, which puts women in a patriarchal, domesticated setting, and has been used as reasoning for restricting women 's rights. Even though the first woman (Domitila Silva Y Lepe) voted in 1875, voting was still considered a barrier well into the 1900s to women's rights in Chile . By 1922, Graciela Mandujano and other women founded the Partido Cívico Femenino (Women's Civic Party) which focused on women getting the right to vote. Women formally gained the right to vote in 1949. During that time, women and men voted in separate polling stations due to an effort to provide women with less influence on their preferences '''. Women also tended to vote more conservatively than men, demonstrating the influence of religion on voting preferences . Although most organizations dissolved after suffrage was granted, Partido Femenino Chileno (Chilean Women's Party), founded by Marié de la Cruz in 1946''', continued to grow and work for more women's rights throughout the years. Chilean women's influence on politics has been demonstrated through multiple occasions during presidential elections - for example, had women not voted in the 1958 election, Salvador Allende would have won. '''During Chile's dictatorship (1973-1990), developments in regards to women's rights stalled comparatively. This did not stop some feminist groups from speaking out, however, as exemplified by the women's march of 1971 against Salvador Allende. This march had long-lasting effects, particularly by establishing women's role in politics, and turning the day of the march into National Women's Day . Post dictatorship, women paradoxically also seemed to lose their voice politically. With a more recent surge in feminism in Chile, the first female leader, Michelle Bachelet, became the 34th president in 2006-2010.''' While not immediately re-electable for the next election, she was appointed the first executive director of United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women(UN Women). On March 11, 2014, she became the 36th president, beginning her second term.

 

Leaders of the feminist movement in Chile
'''As with other countries, the Chilean feminist movement is full of influential leaders. Julieta Kirkwood, born in 1937, was considered the founder of the feminist movement of the 1980s and an instigator of the organization of gender studies at universities in Chile. After studying at the University of Chile, she was influenced by the 1968 revolution in France. At the core of her ideologies was the mantra, ‘There is no democracy without feminism”. Influenced by the ideologies of sociologist Enzo Faletto, she contributed to FLACSO’s theoretical framework of rebellious practices in the name of feminism. Kirkwood not only theorized, but also practiced a life full of activism - being apart of MEMCh 83 as well as the Center for Women’s Studies. She also wrote opinionated pieces in a magazine called Furia. Her influential book, Ser política en Chile, framed how academia has contributed to the social movements of the 1980s. She argued for equal access to scientific knowledge for women, as well as advocating for a more just educational system. '''

For more influential women in Chile, click here.

COPY EDIT OF REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS IN LATIN AMERICA
While feminist movements became prevalent in Europe and North America in the 1960s and 1970s, the women of Latin America were gathering to oppose dictatorships and civil wars. As democracy began to spread across the region, feminist movements gradually began to push for reproductive rights.

In the 1990s, many of the groups that made up the women's movement began to evolve in order to adapt to a changing political climate. These groups focused on specific policy issues, such as abortion, and were not composed exclusively of civil society actors. During this same time period, anti-abortion activism was also beginning to gain momentum. The Vatican replaced hundreds of progressive clergy and summarily repressed discussions of reproductive issues. Groups continuing to fight for reproductive rights across the region have faced a strong resistance from the Catholic church as well as the religious right in the United States. Although a majority of countries within the region are officially secular, the church continues to have an extensive influence within the region due to Latin America being the largest Catholic region in the world. The religious right in the United States holds substantial clout over the political right in its own country, which has resulted in the United States banning federal funding for international NGOs. Considerably damaging to groups in Latin America was Ronald Reagan's 1984 Global Gag Rule which prohibited international organizations receiving US federal funds from performing or promoting abortion as a method of family planning.

Currently the divide is between the right of the woman to choose and the right to life of the unborn child. Latin America is home to some of the few countries of the world with a complete ban on abortion, without an exception for saving maternal life.

Contents
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 * 1Defining reproductive rights
 * 2Current strategies
 * 2.1International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)
 * 2.2Millennium Development Goals in Latin America
 * 3Maternal health and mortality
 * 3.1Adolescent maternity and reproductive health
 * 4Family Planning
 * 4.1Contraceptives
 * 4.2Abortion
 * 4.3Comprehensive Sexual Education
 * 5Religion in Latin America
 * 6See also
 * 7References

Defining reproductive rights[edit]
During the Cold War, reproductive restrictions were directed at controlling overpopulation through technocratic regulatory mechanisms and vertical population control campaigns. The United Nations International Conference on Population and Development of 1994 held in Cairo, Egypt established the first global agenda for sexual and reproductive health and rights. The agreement marked a paradigm shift away from a narrow approach based on delivery of services and numbers rather than well-being. It placed rights at the center of population and development and defined reproductive health as "a state of complete, physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease of infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes." This broader approach to reproductive health moved the Cairo Agenda into political and economic debates over access and rights to knowledge, resources, and appropriate services.

Thus, women and health movements in civil society and their allies in the United Nations and national bureaucracies have undertaken strong campaigns to link public health, gender equality, and development policy. By understanding reproductive rights in the broader context of human rights, governments are able to create a standard of health that ensures development. Similarly, this broader understanding of reproductive health places a certain level of responsibility on the government in ensuring this aspect of health for its citizens.

This cross-cultural consensus focuses on the importance of one particular capability, that of bodily health. Recognizing the many areas reproductive health has influence over serves to exemplify its importance as well as gives some understanding as to what necessary improvements need to be made to a society.

'''Reproductive health also encompasses knowledge production and knowledge consumption. In order to obtain reproductive rights, quality information and services must be made available to all citizens of a society.'''

International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)[edit]
The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development defined reproductive health as noted above. It also defined strategies and goals for advancing such reproductive health and rights in Latin America through what is called the Cairo Programme of Action (CPA). The CPA has three quantitative targets: (1) Reducing overall mortality, which implies an increase in life expectancy, reducing specific mortalities (2) Universal access to education, especially for girls (3) Universal access to reproductive health services, including family planning. Adopted by the region at the conference, some improvements have been seen since the adoption of the CPA. Reproductive rights have become recognized in the constitutions of Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela. The Environmental Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Ad Hoc Committee on Population and Development is responsible for official follow-up to the implementation of the CPA in Latin America as well as the Caribbean.

Millennium Development Goals in Latin America[edit]
The Millennium Development Goals are a descriptive framework by which to monitor response to eight specific goals. They were announced in the Millennium Declaration in September 2000. Whether or not a country is on track to meeting these goals—in the case of Latin America—is tracked by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). One particular goal in regard to reproductive health, Goal 5, seeks to improve maternal health within the region. The first target of Goal 5 is to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters between 1990 and 2015. In order to assess the progress towards this goal, ECLAC monitors maternal mortality ratios and the proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel. The second target of Goal 5 is to achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015. This target is assessed by viewing contraceptive prevalence rates, adolescent birth rates, antenatal care coverage and percentages of unmet need for family planning. In order to achieve these goals, many actions have been taken, including the growing institutionalization of deliveries and the increased number of personnel trained to provide care during childbirth and emergency obstetric care.

Maternal health and mortality[edit]
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2010, about 9,200 women are dying annually from pregnancy-related causes. These deaths have a variety of causes that can occur as a result of complications during and following pregnancy and childbirth. The World Health Organization estimates that around 80% of all maternal deaths are a result of severe bleeding, infections, high blood pressure during pregnancy and unsafe abortions. According to a report by the Guttmacher Institute, more than 20% of women who gave birth in 2008 did not make the recommended four antenatal visits and 13% did not deliver in a health facility.

None of the Latin American countries will reach the Millennium Development goal target specifically for maternal mortality, as well as it continues to be both a health and social challenge in Latin America. Research indicates that the numbers are disproportionately high within the indigenous and afro-descendant populations among the very poor. For indigenous populations as well as adolescents and young people, the rate of unmet family planning need also remains high. Latin America has the second highest fertility rates among adolescents and the highest unsafe abortion rates in the world.

Overall, the maternal mortality rate in Latin America is relatively low compared to other regions with a rate of 80 deaths per 100,000 live births. However, if one were to break down the region's mortality rate by country, one could easily demonstrate that there exists a large disparity between affluent and poor countries. For example, in Haiti the rate was closer to 350 deaths per 100,000 live births. The disparity between wealthy and poor areas likely exists due to the differences in access to services and skilled professionals. Women in the highest income quintile have far easier access to such health services than women in the lowest income quintile. The same class-based disparity exists when analyzing the use of contraceptive methods.[citation needed]

Adolescent maternity and reproductive health[edit]
Protecting the health of adolescents is an important public health priority. Increased investment in adolescent reproductive health contributes to improving the overall status of women as well as the reduction in poverty among families. '''Adolescent health must be contextualized within reproductive health and thus public health. Latin American government as a whole did not recognize early pregnancy in adolescents to be an issue until 1984 during the International Conference on Population in Mexico City.'''

In Latin America, 38% of women become pregnant before the age of 20 and almost 20% of births are to teenage mothers. Each year there are estimated to be 1.2 million unintended pregnancies among adolescent women living in Latin America and the Caribbean. Although overall fertility rates have largely dropped within the region, adolescent maternity is following an opposite trend. The Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean reports that as of 2011, in Nicaragua approximately 2 in 10 women between the ages of 15 and 19 is a mother. In places such as Chile, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru the percentage is close to 12% while in Belize, Venezuela, Colombia, Guatemala and El Salvador reach percentages close to 15%. Inequality is also present in the issue of adolescent maternity, with pregnancy rates being three to five times higher among poor adolescents.[citation needed]. '''While an overall universal trend towards earlier average age of menstruation can be seen, the mean age of marriage has declined. This implies that adolescents who are coerced into marriage are unprotected in terms of reproductive rights for longer periods of time.'''

According to the UN Population Fund, education and access to information and services young people need in order to make responsible decisions remains insufficient. The importance of education is exemplified by how girls in Latin America who have completed only up to primary education or less have a higher probability of adolescent pregnancy . Further, many young girls are dying because their bodies cannot support pregnancies. The same fund reports that the risk of complications during pregnancy and delivery for girls aged 15 to 19 is double the rate for women in their 20s, and five times as high for girls under 15. Research reveals that there are several major barriers that young people face to accessing contraception, primarily with acquiring services. For example, facilities are frequently in areas inaccessible to young individuals. Due to a lack of information, adolescents often incorrectly use or do not use contraceptives at all . For the purpose of privacy from their communities and families, young persons often seek services from facilities not located directly in their own neighborhoods. There are also legal barriers preventing youth's access. Many policies limit or prohibit confidential services for youths.[citation needed]

'''There is also a swath of data that is not collected by hospitals on abortions that are particularly "clandestine" / "backstreet". Studies have shown that in several Latin American countries, young single women are at a high risk for abortion which is not reflected by the amount of married, older women who were hospitalized for abortions. '''

Aside from a lack of information, young people who seek contraception are often denied by health workers acting out of their own moral convictions. It is clear that religious attitudes are very much present in society, which often deters young persons from seeking reproductive services and contraception.

Contraceptives[edit]
Use of modern contraceptives has increased to 62.5% (CITE: Population action) giving the region as a whole the highest contraceptive prevalence rate in the developing world. The increased uptake of sexual and reproductive health and family planning services has resulted in a marked drop in total fertility rates from approximately 4.6 children per woman in the 1970s to about 2.5 in 2013. In Latin America, multiple court decisions have granted personhood to fertilized eggs. These court decisions have been responsible for the extreme restrictions on access to emergency contraception within the region. The legal status of oral contraception in Latin America varies by country. In 2009 Honduras banned the free distribution and sale of emergency contraceptives That same year, the Constitutional Court of Peru ordered the Health Ministry to refrain from distributing emergency contraceptives to the public sector. In Costa Rica, where emergency contraceptives are not blatantly prohibited, the popular emergency contraceptive levonorgestrel is not registered as a product, which impedes access to the drug from within the public health system as well as the private market. Although the remaining countries in the region allow for the free distribution of emergency contraceptives, they do not have uniform regulations. In Chile, Colombia and Ecuador, the right to have access to emergency contraceptives is recognized. In Nicaragua and Bolivia, the protocols of their respective health ministries are essentially law. In Argentina and Brazil, the distribution of emergency contraceptives is not legally recognized except in protocols and informative guides.

Abortion[edit]
'''Abortion is a highly controversial aspect of reproductive rights. While every country in Latin America has differing laws and regulations regarding abortion, the general sentiment is that of disapproval. Abortions in Latin America have had a history of being unsafe and illegal (especially for poor women), with recent improvements in both of those areas. Most of these improvements can be attributed to modern contraception, emergency care, as well as education. Similarly, advocacy and national conflict has grown surrounding abortion rights in Latin America. The region has seen a steady increase of feminist abortion activists, despite religion making the issue taboo. Even when legislation has become more lenient (as has been the case recently with Mexico City and Chile), women often face institutional barriers to gaining access to abortions. When it comes to reporting data on abortions in Latin America, estimated abortion levels are often heterogeneous and highly variable due to legal frameworks and social stigmas.'''

According to the World Health Organization, in 2008, approximately "4.2 million abortions were conducted in Latin America and the Caribbean, almost three-fourths of them in South America. Virtually all these procedures were illegal and many were unsafe."

Further information: Category:Abortion by country

In 2011, the number of unsafe abortions in Latin America rose to 4.2 million annually. Unsafe abortions account for a large proportion of maternal deaths. For example, in Argentina unsafe abortions account for 31% of the maternal mortality rate.

In Latin America abortion is: Only two countries within Latin America allow for legal abortion without restriction. However, these countries are home to less than 5% of women between the ages of 15-44. According to a report released by the Guttmacher Institute, 95% of abortions in Latin America are unsafe. Nearly one million women are hospitalized each year because of complications from unsafe abortion. Overall, Latin American rates of death related to illegal abortions rank among the highest in the world.
 * completely prohibited: El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua
 * allowed only to save the mother's life: Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay, Venezuela,
 * allowed only to save the mother's life and in case of rape: Brazil
 * allowed only to save the mother's life or health: Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador (and rape of disabled woman)
 * allowed only to save the mother's life and in case of rape or fetal malformation: Chile (since 2017), Panama
 * allowed only to save the mother's life or health, and in case of rape: Argentina, Bolivia
 * allowed only to save the mother's life or health, and in case of rape, or fetal malformation: Colombia
 * allowed on request: Cuba, Uruguay, Mexico City (in Mexico law varies by state)

'''Strict abortion laws are accompanied by strict punishments. In El Salvador, for example, a woman can be jailed for up to 40 years for aborting while in Mexico, she could be jailed for up to 50 years. These punishments do not take into consideration the cause of the pregnancy, due to the fact that many of the imprisoned women were raped or had involuntary abortions'''

'''International legislations also have an effect on abortion rights in Latin America. When U.S. President Donald Trump reinstated the Global Gag Rule on January 23rd, 2017, he prohibited all U.S. federal money from funding international organizations such as NGOs that "perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning" . Due to the fact that abortion regulations are already extremely strict in Latin America, this legislation disproportionately affects Latin American organizations that try to provide abortion services to women either legally, or illegally.'''

Comprehensive Sexual Education[edit]
In 2012 a report presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) found that access to information remains a significant roadblock to sexual and reproductive health, particularly in Latin America.(CITE HR BRIEF) The report noted that even when a state has a comprehensive legal framework guaranteeing access to information, in practice the individual’s health is endangered by uninformed decisions made by individuals and policymakers based on inadequate information regarding sexual and reproductive health. In 2011, IACHR issued a report on access to information on reproductive health and found that the situation is compounded when women are poor, indigenous, of African descent, live in a rural area, or are a migrant.

In 2008, the region adopted "Miniseria Declaration, 'Prevention through Education,'" in response to a lack of comprehensive sexuality education. While there have been some setbacks and delays regarding implementation, there have also been key improvements. In 2013, the ministries of health and education of Guatemala reaffirmed their commitment to working together in order to ensure the goals of the Ministerial Declaration are the met. In addition, the government of Guatemala is implementing a comprehensive sexuality education program for young people in nine regions of the country. Actions aimed at promoted comprehensive sexual education can be seen in multiple areas of the region, demonstrating that leaders are indeed dedicated to making such improvements. Earlier in 2012, Costa Rica adopted a national sexuality program for the first time in history. The curriculum approaches human sexuality in a comprehensive way; it includes lessons on human rights, gender equality, power, interpersonal communication, respect for diversity and pleasure. Also making a critical first step that year was El Salvador with its General Youth Act, legislation which recognizes and guarantees the right of young persons to receive comprehensive sex education. Implementation will be an ongoing challenge, however, recognition is important step toward meeting the needs of youth.

Religion in Latin America[edit]
Further information: Religion in Latin America and Catholic Church in Latin America

Religion in Latin America is characterized by the predominance of Roman Catholicism, although there is also increasing Protestant influence (especially in Central America and Brazil) as well as by the presence of other world religions. Catholicism was introduced in Latin America with the Spanish colonization of the Americas and continued through the independence movements of the Spanish-American colonies up to the present day. Critics of the restrictive abortion laws of Latin America argue that this situation is created by the strong influence of the Catholic church in the region. El Salvador and Nicaragua have drawn international attention for strong enforcement of their complete bans on abortion. In 2017, Chile relaxed its total ban, allowing abortion to be performed when the woman’s life is in danger, when a fetus is unviable, or in cases of rape.

International Influence
While many of Latin America's reforms in regards to reproductive rights have happened internally, the broader international community plays an important role as well. The Center for Reproductive Rights, for example, has used international litigation as a way to reinforce national legislation surrounding reproductive rights. Legal policy plays an important role in establishing a standard of reproductive rights internationally as well as within Latin America itself. This implies that over time, reproductive rights will be integrated into a broader framework of human rights.

Feminism in Chile Article
I spent the majority of my time editing this article. This was due to the fact that it had a very low rating, was hard to read organizationally, and had the potential to have more information added. I restructured the first paragraph to make more sense as the beginning of the article. I added media in the means of photos to the article, to exemplify the importance of media in social movements. I contributed a sentence concerning Catholicism in Chile to the Early History section which was (and is) an important aspect of feminism in Chile. I added more to the Early History section, explaining the role of international inspiration for Chilean feminists. The History section was very confusing, so I cleaned it up chronologically and added in many more citations and links to different pages. I contextualized a lot of the historical writing with specific references to magazines written or books written, as well as citing a quote from an important feminist, Amanda Labarca. I added a paragraph at the end of the History section which describes feminism post dictatorship, and the struggles for these voices to be heard within the current democracy. I added a paragraph on Motherhood as it was not discussed as an important aspect of feminism in the article previously. I changed the heading of the next section to Women's Access to Voting in Chile because the content most aptly related to that. I added in sentences on the importance of women's votes and their overall political effect through voting. I added a section called Leaders of the Feminist Movement in Chile, and noted Julieta Kirkwood who was a very important person in terms of early feminist action yet was not mentioned previously. I also link this to another article, "Women in Chile", so as to not repeat information. Throughout all of this work, I added many sources both scholarly and non-scholarly (as is depicted by my annotated bibliography), and I believe that I was able to not only clean up this article, but hopefully add integral information that will help people understand feminism in Chile to a greater degree.

Reproductive Rights in Latin America
This article needed less work in terms of restructuring and organizing, thus resulting in my contributions as being more focused on what I needed to learn about for my practice experience. Because AcciónFem focuses a large proportion of its social work on abortions, I added the most information to that section. With this in mind, however, I also contributed to other parts of the article. I added to the definition of reproductive rights, making it more broad and less biased. I added paragraphs to adolescent health, commenting on the larger trends throughout Latin America concerning adolescents. This is particularly relevant to me as well, as AcciónFem engages strongly with teenage students, and educates them on sexual health. I then added to the Abortion section, where previously it was merely a list of countries and the restrictions that they had. I added a paragraph which contextualized the danger of backstreet abortions, and added a paragraph about the effect of international legislations on Latin American policy making. I then added a new section on International Influence, where I wrote about the Center for Reproductive Rights, and their role in establishing a standard for reproductive health worldwide. Throughout this work I added many sources as well as contextualized the plethora of data that this article already contained, making it more readable. Understanding reproductive rights in the context of Chile was one thing, but after doing the research for this article I feel as though I have a greater understanding of reproductive rights in Latin America as a whole.