The University of Arizona Press
El Salvador Reborn
Abortion, Environment, and the Politics of Survival in a Postwar Nation
El Salvador Reborn examines the nation’s efforts to reshape its identity after the Peace Accords amid declining Cold War tensions. The book explores the criminalization of abortion and environmental activism in postwar El Salvador by focusing on two key organizations, Agrupación Ciudadana por la Despenalización del Aborto and Foro del Agua, highlighting their political strategies during a critical moment in El Salvador’s formation.
Author Mellissa Linton-Villafranco critically analyzes the political shift under the right-wing party, which sought to redefine notions of life and sovereignty. Historically associated with death squads, the right repositioned itself as a pro-life force by criminalizing abortion, amending the constitution to declare life begins at conception, and imposing penalties of up to thirty years. These measures marginalized women’s autonomy, creating a repressive legal environment centered on fetal rights. In response, feminist groups mobilized through protests, online campaigns, transnational alliances, and public art, advocating for reproductive justice that encompasses gender-based violence, health, and environmental sustainability.
Linton-Villafranco makes the case for a holistic conception of life that integrates land, body, and community sovereignty, weaving reproductive justice with environmental activism to promote a broader, interconnected understanding of life and rights in El Salvador.
“Linton-Villafranco’s book provides a powerful and thorough theorization of reproductive justice by expanding its meaning through an in-depth study of feminist and environmental justice work in El Salvador. Readers of this book will not only finish it thinking differently about the ideas of reproductive justice, life, and criminality, but they will have learned much about coalition politics. Linton-Villafranco is both sophisticated in how she writes ethnography and deft in locating the local in a complex and ever-changing transnational landscape.”—Karma R. Chávez, author of The Borders of AIDS: Race, Quarantine, and Resistance
