Sutton, Barbara, and Elizabeth Borland. “Framing Abortion Rights in Argentina’s Encuentros Nacionales De Mujeres.” Feminist Studies 39, no. 1 (2013): 194-234.

Green bandanas and women marching around Plaza de Mayo holding signs reading “Aborto legal” are just one of the many social issues the Encuentro Nacional de Mujeres stand for. The article called “Framing Abortion Rights in Argentina’s Encuentros Nacionales de Mujeres”goes in depth in the Encuentro’s fight for justice with their discussions that happen across Argentina which are then documented in “conclusions.” These heated documented discussions that the Encuentros have is all to analyze a clear issue in society through different frames. By seeing a controversial topic such as abortion through different frames, the articles argue that it allows the Encuentros to dig deeper and understand those for or against legal abortion in Argentina.

The article focuses on the Encuentros use of framing for the topic of legal abortions. In order to show how the Encuentros discussion of abortion would proceed, the article breaks down and explains the main eight frames utilized during the discussions. The authors of the article, Sutton and Borland attended the different Encuentros discussions while documenting the most used frames; public health, economic plus social justice, and choice are the most commonly used for the abortion topic. The text featured graphs and charts to demonstrate the influx of abortion rights discussions at the Encuentros workshops which showed the weight of the topic. The text as a whole has a pro-legal abortion lens and is very positive regarding the Encuentros, since the authors stated at the beginning of the text that it was influenced by their “activist feminist standpoints” (p.196). Knowing this background knowledge about the author influenced the piece because it is more one-sided and while it does reference the Catholic church and other anti-abortion groups in Argentina, it mainly focuses on the Pro-abortion Encuentros.

Framing is the biggest takeaway from the article and was eye-opening in looking at abortion not being a simple topic but how in different contexts and the topic seems to change. For Argentina, the article opened the world to what the Encuentros truly stand for and how their discussions facilitate meaningful progress on tough topics like abortion. It is a very helpful article for my project which focuses on the debate over legalizing abortion in Argentina and the difficulty associated with such a controversial topic. As far as tying into this course, it brings up valid points of the influence of religion on law, and the rising of grassroots groups like the Encuentros to have their voices heard in a supportive space. Lastly this quote on page 230 encompasses the core ideas the authors conveyed “A focus on abortion rights frames adds a valuable historical perspective and sociological analysis of how different frames have been used to deploy more in action.”