Leaving the Nation-State in Search of Reproductive Self-Determination

Reproductive self-determination is women’s agency over how many children they want to have (Uberoi and de Bruyn, 2013). Its litmus test is the existence of legal, safe, and publicly funded abortion services. How do women maintain full agency over their bodies in societies that criminalize abortion, especially when neighbouring countries have legalized the practice? What alternatives do they resort to under these circumstances? This paper examines the tactic of temporarily leaving the nation-state to access services in countries where the voluntary interruption of pregnancy is a woman’s right supported – and not curtailed – by the existing legal framework. Focusing on Brazilian women who travel abroad, primarily to Colombia, in search of reproductive self-determination, the analysis uncovers formal and informal sorority networks whose tireless dedication and dogged determination enable women to exercise autonomy over their bodies. While organized women primarily spearhead this form of resistance, the paper highlights individual women’s initial uphill battle with Brazil’s healthcare system, which ultimately pushes them to seek gender justice overseas. A critical contribution of this case study is a more nuanced understanding of organized women’s strategies of resistance, particularly the functioning of transnational solidarity networks (Keck and Sikkink, 1998) to overcome oppressive legislation governing gender relations within their own nation-states.