Article by MPhil student, Clorrie Yeomans, published in The Open Review

This article explores the links between the activism of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo during Argentina’s most recent dictatorship (from 1976 to 1983) and the country’s abortion campaigns from 2019 to 2020. Social media played an instrumental role in Argentina’s abortion debate, particularly during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic (Laudano, 2021: 187). Despite this, a gap exists in the extant literature regarding Argentina’s pro-choice and pro-life campaigns on Facebook. Through ‘virtual ethnography’ (Hine, 2000) of Argentina’s most popular pro-choice and pro-life Facebook pages, this paper identifies and explores how the framing of abortion activism was linked to the Madres’ dictatorship-era activism. It is shown how pro-choice activists aligned their movement with the Madres’ ‘repertoire’ (Tilly, 2006; Tilly & Tarrow, 2007). However, it is also identified that the pro-life campaigners employed ‘frame-jacking’ (Clifford, 2012) to mirror the Madres’ activism.

This paper originated as an Extended Essay submitted for the Human Rights in Latin America module in 2021 convened by Professor Leigh A. Payne and Dr. Francesca Lessa.

Yeomans, C.V. (2022), Argentina's Abortion Debate: Tracing the Links between the Madres, the Marea Verde, and the Marea Celeste. The Open Review 7 (February 2022), pp.69-80. Available at: http://www.theopenreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/00.-The-Open-Review-2022-FINAL.pdf