Ipas and partners hosted the second Green Wave Gathering last week in Mexico City, uniting 150 activists from across the Americas, including from the United States, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, and more. Organized by the Women’s Equality Center, Ipas Latin America and the Caribbean, Ipas United States. and the Guttmacher Institute, the two-day event inspired and fortified movements for reproductive justice and abortion rights throughout the region.
The second Green Wave Gathering moved beyond the connections and solidarity formed a year ago at the first gathering and focused on strategies for policy change, messaging and movement building under ongoing threats to democracy.
“At this pivotal moment, we must unite our efforts for the recognition and guarantee of reproductive rights,” stated María Antonieta Alcalde Castro, director of Ipas Latin America and the Caribbean. “The Green Wave Gathering represents a beacon of hope, inspiring us to continue sharing our struggles and testimonies. Together, we can achieve a world where reproductive rights are fully realized.”
The Green Wave movement, which originated in Latin America, continues to spread throughout the Americas, inspiring the global reproductive justice movement. The first Green Wave Gathering, held in February 2023 in Washington, DC, brought together 120 abortion rights activists and leaders from Latin America and the U.S.
This year’s gathering expanded on that foundation, forging actionable steps for collaboration and creating space for camaraderie. An intergenerational mix of activists that included doctors, lawyers, LGBTQ+ activists, grassroots organizations, sex workers, artists and more filled the diverse assembly. Attendees spent the two-day event sharing and building strategies for how to navigate attacks from anti-rights movements and how to persist in environments where abortion access remains marginalized, criminalized and surveilled.
“The untapped power and sheer force of a unified transnational movement was palpable at the Green Wave Gathering II in Mexico City. We are just scratching the surface and beginning to understand what might be possible when we work together across borders.”
— Bethany Van Kampen Saravia, senior legal and policy advisor for Ipas United States
“For the Ipas team in the United States, it is important to be in this space; they are experiencing a very challenging reality after [the fall of] Roe v. Wade. Being part of a global struggle can infuse a lot of strength and energy into their work.”
— Sergia Galvan Ortega, Ipas board member
“It is easier to get out of jail than out of the cemetery”
As one of the first speakers at the event, Amanda Quijano from PUENTES, a nonprofit organization working to strengthen the narrative power of social justice movements in Latin America, asked the crowd to “build with us” because fighting together is not only more effective, but also healthier. She also spoke of the fear of being criminalized that women in El Salvador face when seeking care at a public hospital for complications of abortion with unsafe methods.
“My mother says it is easier to get out of jail than out of the cemetery,” said Quijano. Her mother, also an abortion rights activist, was in attendance.
An altar was set up to honor loved ones and to process the suffering caused by lack of abortion access. Here a bouquet is left in honor of Beatriz, a young mother with lupus who died despite pleading with the El Salvadorian state in 2013 to allow her to end a pregnancy that was putting her health and life at risk.
Attendees of the Green Wave Gathering, including Ipas staff and board members from the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, pose with the iconic green bandanas that have come to symbolize the Green Wave movement the world over.
Progress in Mexico inspires action in the United States
Pearl Friedberg, program support director leading Ipas’s work in the United States, visited Mexico España Clinic in Mexico City with other activists and donors attending the Green Wave Gathering (Pearl shown above at far right during the clinic visit). Staffed by Ipas-trained providers, the clinic offers comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, including abortion. Women arrive at 7:00 AM and leave by 11:00 AM with abortion pills, all free as part of the public health system.
“Here, abortion is integrated into sexual and reproductive health care, reducing stigma,” shared Friedberg. “This is a stark contrast to the U.S.—and an inspiration.”
Examples like the Mexico España Clinic show how progress made in Latin America can spark change in the United States. In fact, Arizona legislators who visited the clinic two years ago were inspired to push for the repeal of an 1864-era abortion ban in Arizona that went into effect once the protection of Roe v. Wade was removed.
“This shows the pivotal influence of learning from other countries,” Friedberg notes. Ipas has worked with partners to organize learning exchanges for U.S. legislators in Mexico, helping them recognize how the fight for abortion rights is global.