What Happened to Bel?n: The Unjust Imprisonment That Sparked a Women's Rights Movement

"There are many women like Bel?n whose names we don't know, but whose stories are just as important. An uplifting chronicle of one woman's fight for justice."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Foreword by Margaret Atwood

The heartbreaking true story of an Argentinian woman imprisoned for having a miscarriage--an injustice that galvanized a feminist movement and became a global rallying cry in the fight for reproductive rights.

In 2014, Bel?n, a twenty-five-year-old woman living in rural Argentina, went to the hospital for a stomachache--and soon found herself in prison. While at the hospital she had a miscarriage--without knowing she was pregnant. Because of the nation's repressive laws surrounding abortion and reproductive rights, the doctors were forced to report her to the authorities. Despite her protestations, Bel?n was convicted and sentenced to two years for homicide.

Bel?n's imprisonment is a glaring example of how women's health care has become increasingly criminalized, putting the most vulnerable--BIPOC, rural, and low-income--women at greater risk of prosecution. Bel?n's cause became the centerpiece of a movement to achieve greater protections for all women. After two failed attempts to clear her name, Bel?n met feminist lawyer Soledad Deza, who quickly rallied Amnesty International and ignited an international feminist movement around #niunamas--not one more--symbolized by thousands of demonstrators around the globe donning white masks, the same kind of mask Bel?n wore when leaving prison. The #niunamas movement was instrumental in pressuring Argentine president Alberto Fern?ndez to decriminalize abortion in 2021.

In this gripping and personal account of the case and its impact on local law, Ana Correa, one of Argentina's leading journalists and activists, makes clear that what happened to Bel?n could happen to any woman--and that we all have the power to raise our collective voices and demand change.

Translated by Julia Sanches

Author: Ana Elena Correa
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperOne
Published: 09/24/2024
Pages: 240
Weight: 0.8lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780063316737


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 07/22/2024
Kirkus Reviews 09/15/2024