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Pro-Life and Feminist Mobilization in the Struggle over Abortion in Mexico: Church Networks, Elite Alliances, and Partisan Context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2021

Camilla Reuterswärd Open the ORCID record for Camilla Reuterswärd [Opens in a new window]
Camilla Reuterswärd*
Affiliation:
Camilla Reuterswärd is a research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. c.reutersward@ids.ac.uk.
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Abstract

This article comparatively analyzes the strategies and political impact of “pro-life” and feminist movements in the struggle over abortion policy in Mexico. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, it argues that anti-abortion movements are more likely to influence policymaking in contexts where they can tap into hegemonic religious institutions’ networks and alliances and indirectly provide incumbents with legitimizing moral and financial support in exchange for restrictive reforms. Partisan contexts shape incumbents’ need for such support. Feminist activists, by contrast, have neither elite connections nor access to similar mobilization resources. To make this argument, the analysis examines pro-life and feminist movements in two Mexican states: Yucatán, where Congress passed a restrictive reform; and Hidalgo, where an identical initiative failed.

Keywords

Social movementsreligious institutionsCatholic advocacyabortion
Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 63 , Special Issue 3: The Grassroots Right in Latin America , August 2021 , pp. 21 - 45
Copyright
© The Author 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the University of Miami

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Footnotes

Conflicts of interest: the author, Camilla Reuterswärd, declares none.

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