As our colleagues back home in the United States reported on and protested the pending Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, we marched with pro-choice feminists through the streets of Guadalajara in Jalisco, one of Mexico’s most conservative states. Throughout our time reporting on reproductive rights here in Mexico — where abortion is illegal in most cases except in Mexico City — we have focused on the ways in which women are coming together to support each other and make change. Inspired by the “Green Wave” started by activists in Argentina, about 500 people took to the streets of Guadalajara on September 28, the Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion. They wore green handkerchiefs to symbolize solidarity with pro-choice activists throughout Latin America. In the midst of the Kavanaugh news back home, one of their chants in particular stood out to us for its hopeful tone. It ended with the line: “Por nuestra autonomía, luchamos hasta el fin.”

“For our autonomy, we fight until the end.” 

Amy Littlefield and Laura Gottesdiener, Guadalajara Fall 2018 Adelante Fellows