Accompaniment on the edge: What can the US learn from Latin America about contested abortion care?

Abstract

The US has stood as a reference point for abortion rights in the Americas since 1973, however in 2022, the US Supreme Court revoked the constitutional right to abortion. Facing similar circumstances, a huge number of grass roots accompanist networks have arisen throughout Latin America. These collectives are typically organized loosely within state and national networks that provide training and medication/supplies and promote advocacy and the expansion of new collectives. Extensive evidence and lived experience support the safety and effectiveness of self-managed medication abortion. Much can be learned from the Latin American accompanist model in the modern struggle for reproductive justice in the US. Accompaniment networks in Mexico have provided transborder abortion services—via misoprostol delivery—to US-based women living in states that required long travel or high costs to access services. Now, these transborder services will take on a new level of significance. Guaranteeing safe and low-cost access to abortion services is a key tenet of reproductive justice. Instead of relying on the political process alone to eventually provide abortion access through legal channels, an accompanist model provides an icon of resistance to oppressive legal shifts, and directly provides services to women.