Abstract

PRATA, Ana. Failure to launch?: The women’s movement struggle for abortion decriminalization in the Portuguese Parliament (1982). Ex aequo [online]. 2012, n.25, pp.75-90. ISSN 0874-5560.

In 1982, the Communist Party presented a proposed law on abortion decriminalization and the women’s movement tactics converged at parliamentary members. Despite that, we know little about this contested political process and the attempts for legal change that occurred from the interaction between activists, double-militants, and MPs. Findings show that women’s organizations remained as ‘outsiders’ and excluded from the political process, but that most of their preferred framings were put forward by their few political allies. The «failure» to pass abortion reform in 1982 cannot overshadow what the debate ultimately represented - a precursor of the approval of abortion decriminalization in Parliament just two years later, in 1984.

Keywords : women’s movements; abortion rights; framing; policy-formation; movement outcomes.

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