Forms of Countermovement and Counter-Reform in Latin America: Judicial Backlash or Resources and Political and Legal Opportunities?

ALBA RUIBAL

The Limits of Judicialization: From Progress to Backlash in Latin America

Cambridge University Press

Lugar: New York; Año: 2022;

Through the study of processes of countermovement and counter-reform in the field of abortion law in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina over the past two decades, this chapter aims to add to the discussion of judicial backlash. In contrast with the judicial backlash thesis, it argues that the conservative reaction to abortion rights gains in the region cannot be explained as a direct or specific response to court decisions. Instead, it presents an account of the development of countermovements and counter-reforms from a sociological perspective, by tracing them back to their interaction with political and legal opportunities. The study identifies four types of counter-mobilization and counter-reform, according to the predominant and more successful strategy of conservative actors against the advancement of abortion rights in each of those countries. In this account, Brazil is analyzed as an emblematic case of influence of conservative forces on the legislature and the formation of an inter-religious caucus at the national Congress; Mexico, as a case of pressure on subnational legislative processes; Colombia as a case of counter-legal mobilization by institutional activists within the national State structure; and Argentina as the most salient case of counter-legal mobilization in civil society.