International Women's Health Coalition

Latin America

Since 1987, IWHC has worked in collaboration with partner organizations throughout Latin America, including work with groups in Brazil, Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, Argentina, as well as regional collaborations.

Women and girls in Latin America face some of the harshest restrictions to sexual and reproductive rights, though many donors have been turning their attentions elsewhere because many Latin American countries are not considered developing nations.

Our partners in Latin America contend with very conservative political forces. In the face of their political realities, they provide support to and advocacy for women who experience unwanted pregnancies and a lack of vital health services, especially safe and legal abortion. n

Featured Partners

Cunhã Coletivo Feminista: Founded in 1990 in João Pessoa, the capital of the poor, northeastern state of Paraiba, Cunhã Feminist Collective (Cunhã Coletivo Feminista—Cunhã) advocates for improvements in family planning services and programs to prevent maternal mortality, violence against women and HIV/AIDS.
Mujer y Salud en Uruguay (MYSU) promotes and advocates for sexual and reproductive health and rights from a gender-sensitive and generational perspective. IWHC has supported the network since 2002.
Centro de Estudios y Promocion Afro-Peruano (LUNDÚ) or the Center for Afro-Peruvian Studies and Empowerment, founded in 2001, is a non-profit organization that promotes the development of the population of African descent by combating racism, sexism and other types of discrimination from an inter-cultural, inter-generational and gender perspective. It advocates for the human rights of people of African descent and contributes to the development of programs, laws and policies that benefit this population.
Reprolatina, Innovative Solutions in Sexual and Reproductive Health, is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization founded in 1999 and located in Campinas, State of São Paulo in Brazil. It carries out strategic and innovative actions to help enhance the quality of sexual and reproductive health of women and men (adolescents, young people, and adults) in disadvantaged populations in Latin America.

Featured Story

In 2012, a decision by Brazil’s Supreme Court decriminalized abortion in cases of anencephaly, a fetal malformation incompatible with life. IWHC provided support to ANIS (the Institute of Human Rights, Bioethics, and Gender) to pursue the legal challenge beginning in 2005. For many years, IWHC was the organization's single source of funding for this complicated and long legal battle. In addition, IWHC supported the production of the film, “Severina’s Story,” which helped turned the tide on the case. Apart from keeping hundreds of women every year from being forced to carry a pregnancy of an unviable fetus to term, this highly visible case also demonstrated the willingness of the Supreme Court to support the perspective of women’s rights. Watch "Severina's Story" below.