Communicating Abortion

Communication foi Bevelopment
0ne-yeai mastei
1S Cieuits
Semestei I - 2u14
Supeivisoi: Kaiin Wilkins

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ABSTRACT
This uegiee pioject examines the question of how Colombian Nu0s communicate sexual
anu iepiouuctive iights issues to the public opinion, anu how this has changeu ovei time.
The ieseaich is caiiieu out thiough a case stuuy of two Colombian oiganizations that woik
with sexual anu iepiouuctive iights, paiticulaily the implementation of legal aboition
1
.
The analysis paits fiom a genuei peispective, unueistanuing genuei as a constitutive
element of social ielationships as well as a piimaiy way of signifying ielationships of
powei.
0ne of the main finuings in the stuuy is that the histoiical point of uepaituie foi this
ieseaich, the LAICIA campaign that accompanieu the stiategic litigation that leu to the
paitial legalization of aboition in Colombia in 2uu6, iepiesents a paiauigm shift in how
communications weie manageu by civil society oiganizations in Colombia. Touay,
communications is seen as a stiategic tool to help obtain a ceitain objective, anu mobilize
public opinion suppoit, iathei than as a way of convincing opponents to change theii
positions. LAICIA also changeu the teims of the uebate, intiouucing new paiameteis lifting
out the issue fiom the tiauitional piivate spheie - uelimiteu to a moial anu ieligious issue,
anu into the public spheie, as an issue of geneial concein foi society - not just foi
inuiviuual women.
Touay, howevei, much of the communication effoits aie uiiecteu at impeuing backlashes
iathei than auvancing positions, anu communicating ieactively iathei than pioactively.
The two oiganizations stuuieu have some conveigences in theii woik with
communications, in spite of ceitain iueological uiffeiences, anu the impact of theii
communication effoits coulu be ieinfoiceu if these weie cooiuinateu to a gieatei extent
between oiganizations.

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1
Women's Link Woiluwiue anu La Nesa poi la viua y la Saluu ue las Nujeies
1. INTR0B0CINu TBE RESEARCB

1
1 INTR0B0CI Nu TBE RESEARCB
Colombian society is highly conseivative, with a iight-wingconseivative congiess
2
anu a
maikeuly catholic population, with aiounu 8u-9u% confessing to the ieligion. Although
Colombia has a constitutional guaiantee foi the fieeuom of ieligion anu the chuich is
officially sepaiateu fiom the state, in piactice the Catholic Chuich exeicises an impoitant
political influence anu it is a common sentiment that the state unofficially sanctions a
piivilegeu position foi Catholicism, which was the official ieligion until the auoption of the
1991 Constitution (0.S. Bepaitment of State, 2uu9).
In this cultuial context, sexual anu iepiouuctive iights issues aie instantly met with
iesistance among the geneial public. That sexual euucation anu contiaceptives aie
immoial anu thieaten the family, anu that aboition is simply muiuei, aie wiuespieau
notions.
Neveitheless, theie aie some piogiessive public institutions, the most outstanuing being
the Constitutional Couit that since the 1991 Constitution has gaineu a ieputation both
nationally anu inteinationally foi its piogiessive iulings, often in favoi of minoiity iights.
(0piimny Yepes & uaicia villegas, 2uu4) 0ne of these giounubieaking uecisions was the
iuling C-SSSu6 that on Nay 1uth, 2uu6, legalizeu aboition in Colombia
S
in thiee
ciicumstances - when the piegnancy poses a iisk to the life oi health (physical oi mental)
of the woman; when it is a iesult of iape oi incest; anu when the fetus is uiagnoseu with
giave malfoimations making life outsiue of the uteius unviable. The uecision came aftei a
high impact stiategic litigation biought foiwaiu by the oiganization Women's Link
Woiluwiue, anu piesenteu by the lawyei Nonica Roa, piogiam uiiectoi of the
oiganization.
Since the legalization eight yeais ago, seveial civil society oiganizations have been
woiking on piomoting the effective implementation of the legislation, tiying to ensuie that
women's iights aie iespecteu. Although the law is on theii siue, theii woik is met with
stiong iesistance, in society as well as within the same public institutions that aie
supposeu to guaiantee the piovision of this health seivice. Theiefoie, communication is -

2
0f the 1u2 seats in the Congiess 2u1u-2u14, 7u (69,6%) cuiiently coiiesponu to iepiesentatives fiom the
five iight-wingconseivative paities in the Congiess (E+1,).% $%(4019+.%1B E+1,).% .0 5+ FB E+1,).% .0
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0ntil 2uu6, aboition was completely piohibiteu in Colombia

2
oi shoulu be - a key component in the woik of these oiganizations in oiuei to geneiate a
moie favoiable public opinion.
This stuuy aims to analyze the communication of sexual anu iepiouuctive iights issues, in
paiticulai aboition, by these oiganizations to the public opinion in Colombia, paiting fiom
the main ieseaich question:
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%>)()%(P
I will conuuct a case stuuy of two Colombian oiganizations that woik with sexual anu
iepiouuctive iights, paiticulaily the implementation of legal aboition, namely Women's
Link Woiluwiue
4
anu La Nesa poi la viua y la Saluu ue las Nujeies
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(fiom heieon, La
Nesa). I have chosen these oiganizations foi being the two main Nu0s that woik with the
issue on a national level that have been piesent anu active in the countiy since befoie the
legalization of aboition in 2uu6. They also both count on a peison within theii teams in
chaige of communications.
The selection ciiteiia of having been piesent foi the last uecaue becomes ielevant in
ielation to my seconuaiy ieseaich question: M%: 6+4 ,60 :+C $%5%&=)+( INO4
*%&&'()*+,0 40D'+5 +(. 10>1%.'*,)90 1)/6,4 ,% ,60 >'=5)* %>)()%( *6+(/0. %901 ,)&0P
In this ieseaich I take as a staiting point the LAICIA
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pioject that pieceueu the couit iuling
that paitially legalizeu aboition in Colombia. The pioject, with the objective of achieving
the legalization of aboition in Colombia thiough Constitutional Couit litigation, incluueu
an impoitant communications element, aimeu at geneiating a moie favoiable public
opinion towaiu the issue.
I aigue that LAICIA iepiesents a milestone anu a shift in paiauigm of how sexual anu
iepiouuctive iights oiganizations in Colombia manage communications. Theiefoie, the
analysis paits fiom an exploiation of how the LAICIA stiategy was planneu anu executeu,
anu then examines how the stiategies foi communications have changeu ovei time until
touay, paiticulaily in the two oiganizations that aie subject of the case stuuy. This incluues

4
An inteinational human iights non-piofit oiganization with offices in Colombia anu Spain, stiiving to auvance
women's iights thiough the implementation of inteinational human iights stanuaius anu stiategic woik with
the couits, incluuing stiategic litigation.
S
A collective of oiganizations anu peisons that woik foi women's sexual anu iepiouuctive iights, in paiticulai
those ielateu to mateinity as a fiee choice, the fiee exeicise of sexuality, anu the total legalization of aboition.
6
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0nconstitutionality of Aboition in Colombia)

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what they uo inuiviuually in communication as well as how they aiticulate theii
communication effoits with othei actois.
1. 1 NEANS 0F INvESTIuATINu TBE PR0BLEN
When stuuying how Nu0s communicate to the public opinion, theie aie at least two
possible appioaches. 0ne woulu be to look at the communication fiom the angle of the
piouuceis of the communication, the oiganizations. Bow uo they foimulate theii messages
- what uo they incluue anu what uo they excluue anu to whom uo they communicate
them. The othei one woulu be to focus on the consumeis of the communication, in this
case the geneial public, foi example by assessing the impact of the messages in the meuia.
In this case, I have chosen the fiist option.
The analysis is constiucteu aiounu inuicatois uiawn fiom liteiatuie on communication
best piactices foi civil society oiganizations
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, accoiuing to which I can assess the woik of
the oiganizations, using qualitative inteiviews as a piimaiy methou foi gatheiing the
empiiical infoimation.
The theme foi the uegiee pioject is highly ielevant foi ComBev, not only foi its focus on
communication foi social tiansfoimation, but also foi the subject of the communication to
be stuuieu - sexual anu iepiouuctive iights - a key component on the inteinational
uevelopment agenua.
1. 2 SC0PE ANB 00TLINE
Regaiuing the ieseaich question, it is impoitant to point out that the 'how' iefeis
piincipally to the uefinition anu content of the stiategies of communication. I will focus on
the iuentification of messages, auuiences anu ielations with othei actois in the elaboiation
of communication effoits. In othei woius, my ieseaich peispective focuses on the senuei
anu the message iathei than the ieceivei. Regaiuing the impact on the public opinion, it is
not the piimaiy aim of the stuuy; howevei, it will be taken into account in the analysis
fiom seconuaiy souices, anu also questions about mechanisms foi measuiing impact anu
peiceiveu impact fiom the communication activities aie poseu in the inteiviews with the
oiganizations. This way the issue of the impact on the ieceivei siue will not be left
completely unattenueu, but at the same time the ieseaich maintains its piimaiy focus.

7
The publications useu to constiuct some of the questions in the inteiview guiue weie S&+1, $6+1, ;"T
(Spitfiie Stiategies, 2u1S) anu S'**044U'5 $%&&'()*+,)%( (Bovlanu, 2uuS).

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This uegiee pioject is stiuctuieu in six chapteis, incluuing this intiouuction. Following this
fiist chaptei, the theoietical anu methouological fiamewoik is intiouuceu. Fiist, I piesent
the theoietical point of uepaituie exploiing the concept of genuei anu its ielation to
sexual anu iepiouuctive iights, as well as its iole in communications. The following thiee
chapteis contain the piesentation of the iesults anu the analysis baseu on the empiiical
anu bibliogiaphical ieseaich, stiuctuieu thematically. Chaptei thiee intiouuces the LAICIA
pioject as a change of paiauigm in how sexual anu iepiouuctive iights oiganizations in
Colombia have woikeu with communications. I exploie how the piojects communication
stiategies weie elaboiateu anu executeu, anu what impact they hau in the oiganizations as
well as on the public opinion. Chaptei foui analyzes how communication effoits have been
aiticulateu between actois, focusing on two types of alliances, the ones between the
oiganizations anu meuia, anu the ones among uiffeient oiganizations. The last analytical
iesults chaptei, titleu "An impact in an auveise context", exploies, with focus on touay,
how communication stiategies anu actions aie elaboiateu anu caiiieu out in ielation to
the cuiient context. Finally, chaptei six consists in some concluuing comments wheie I
ietuin to the initial ieseaich question to sum up the finuings of the stuuy.

2. TBE0RETICAL ANB NETB0B0L0uICAL FRANEW0RK

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2 TBE0RETI CAL ANB NETB0B0L0uI CAL FRANEW0RK
In this chaptei, I will intiouuce the theoietical anu methouological fiamewoik that guiues
the ieseaich anu analysis in this uegiee pioject. The fiist pait of the chaptei elaboiates
upon the theoietical genuei peispective, paiting fiom the uevelopments of }oan Scott of
genuei as a constitutive element of social ielationships anu as a piimaiy way of signifying
ielationships of powei. This is then connecteu to the stuuy of communication, establishing
the link between these two acauemic fielus. The seconu pait of the chaptei, the
methouological fiamewoik, is intiouuceu with an auuiess of the feminist social ieseaich
peispective, as a biiuge between the two paits of the chaptei. Then, I uiscuss my choice of
ieseaich methous anu theii implications, as well as intiouuce the two main techniques
applieu in this ieseaich pioject: qualitative inteiviews anu bibliogiaphical ieview.
2. 1 TBE0RETICAL P0INT 0F BEPART0RE: TBE uENBER PERSPECTIvE
A key point of uepaituie in a ieseaich pioject uealing with the theme pioposeu heie, is a
theoietical genuei peispective. uenuei Stuuies is an acauemic fielu encompassing a wiue
vaiiety of peispectives, focusing on the stuuy of the powei ielations baseu on genuei in
society. Foi this ieseaich, I have useu the conceptual uefinition of genuei as elaboiateu by
}oan Scott in the aiticle "uenuei: A 0seful Categoiy of Bistoiical Analysis" (Scott, 1986),
which is an acauemic milestone in genuei stuuies.
Scott uiviues hei uefinition in two paits, integially connecteu but analytically uistinct
(Scott, 1986, p. 1u67):
1. uenuei is a constitutive element of social ielationships baseu on peiceiveu
uiffeiences between the sexes;
2. uenuei is a piimaiy way of signifying ielationships of powei.
uenuei as a constitutive element of social ielationships, suggests that it is thiough the
anatomical uiffeiences between women anu men that inteipietations anu symbols aie
constiucteu about what it means, anu what social consequences it has, to be a man oi a
woman. Scott uistinguishes foui inteiielateu elements (Scott, 1986, pp. 1u67-1u69):
i. Symbolic element: Cultuially available symbols that evoke multiple (anu often
contiauictoiy) iepiesentations. 0ne example is the symbolism, veiy piesent in
Latin Ameiican societies, that links women with mateinity.

6
ii. Noimative element: Concepts that set foith inteipietations of the meanings of the
symbols that attempt to limit anu contain theii metaphoiic possibilities. These
concepts aie expiesseu in ieligious, euucational, scientific, legal, anu political
uoctiines anu typically take the foim of a fixeu binaiy opposition, asseiting the
meaning of male anu female, masculine anu feminine
iii. Institutional element: Politics as well as social institutions anu oiganizations. This
incluues kinship but also the laboi maiket, euucation, anu politics, all pait in the
piocess of genuei constiuction.
iv. Subjective element: The ways in which genueieu iuentities aie substantively
constiucteu anu ielate theii finuings to a iange of activities, social oiiginations,
anu histoiically specific cultuial iepiesentations, without always liteially fulfilling
the teims of theii society's piesciiptions.
These elements aie inteiielateu in the sense that they aie inteiuepenuent, but each one is
not just a ieflection of the otheis. Regaiuing the seconu pait of the uefinition, Scott holus
that genuei is a piimaiy fielu within which oi by means of which powei is aiticulateu.
Changes in the oiganization of social ielationships always coiiesponu to changes in
iepiesentations of powei. The concepts of genuei stiuctuie the peiception anu the
oiganizations, both concietely anu symbolically, of all social life, as a set of common
iefeiences. uiven that these iefeiences also establish the uistiibutions of powei, genuei
influences in the conception anu constiuction of powei itself. (Scott, 1986)
Foi a long time, in social theoiy, the so-calleu 'public' anu 'piivate' spheies have been
tieateu like two inuepenuent anu isolateu spheies, which can be analyzeu sepaiately,
something that feminist theoiy has been ueconstiucting. The main feminist ciiticism
towaius this peiceiveu uichotomy has been of its blinuness. That is, it is impossible to
unueistanu the 'public' spheie, without unueistanuing that it has been constiucteu unuei
the supposition of masculine supeiioiity anu uomination, anu that it piesupposes female
iesponsibility in the uomestic spheie. Bowevei, the sepaiation of the spheies is conceiveu
as if it weie to apply equally foi all peisons, a theoietical anu legal legacy that has
consequences even touay. (Nollei 0kin, 1999)
The constiuction of iights-beaiing peisons is not caiiieu out in piivate but in public, fiom
wheie women tiauitionally have been excluueu. Bence, law is conceptualizeu as male anu
public. (0lsen, 2uuu) Law, in tuin, is the official guaiantoi of women's iight to aboition.
Cathaiine NacKinnon aigues in hei book @%:+1. + U0&)()4, ,60%1C %U ,60 4,+,0 (1989), that
aboition has been fiameu within the piivate spheie of the public-piivate uivision, as an

7
inuiviuual mattei iathei that a public one. As a consequence, it is uifficult foi women to
claim this iight to the public. This way, the laws anu the aboition piactices aie inseiteu in
the powei ielations that accoiuing to Scott aie pait of the veiy concept of genuei.
While 'woman' is a concept useu to categoiize people that belong to a paiticulai sex, it is
foi one not a unifieu anu homogeneous analytical categoiy, anu fuithei, a categoiy that is
given meaning thiough associations that aie by no means applicable to all its membeis.
This way, in the mateinalist iueology iooteu in a patiiaichal-catholic cultuie pieuominant
in much of Latin Ameiica, uesciibeu by Lola u. Luna in hei book on women's movements
in Latin Ameiica (2uuS), the iole of mateinity is assigneu to women as theii main social
function. Bowevei, this woman-mothei is not an iueal that any woman coulu ieach, as this
mouel is chaigeu with patiiaichal, iacist anu classist values. The "iueal mothei" is not a
single oi lesbian woman (outsiue of the heteiopatiiaichal fiamewoik of the nucleai
family), black oi pooi, as these women with uifficulty incainate mateinity as it has been
uefineu within this hegemonic mouel. The opposition against the legalization of aboition
goes hanu in hanu with a sexist iueology that seeks to guaiantee, iepiouuce anu
consoliuate supposeuly "natuial" genuei hieiaichies. (viveios, 2uu6)
2. 1. 1 C0NN0NICATI0N ANB uENBER
Neuia shape the social woilu. The meuia uiscouises aie social piactices that exeicise
powei. As such, they can piouuce anu iepiouuce unequal powei ielations thiough the way
issues anu peisons aie iepiesenteu anu positioneu. (Couluiy, 2u12; van Bijk, 2uu9; }gei
& Naiei, 2uu9; Wouak & Neyei, 2uu9) This way, wiitten piess has an infoimative as well
as a peisuasive function, piojecting to its auuiences a paiticulai image of events, attenuing
the inteiests of who piouuce the news oi have access to meuia to constitute themselves in
the centei of inteiest. (Piez Rouiiguez, 2uu7) This iole of the meuia has a close
ielationship to the genuei peispective, as an impoitant component of the genuei system is
that of powei ielations. The symbolic powei that meuia exeicise is not only founu in what
is iepiouuceu anu how, but also in which voices have access anu which aie excluueu, oi
who is a subject anu a voice, anu who is an object anu a news stoiy mateiial:
"Neuia manage the mental iepiesentations, anu they uo so thiough the
contiol of beliefs, knowleuge anu steieotypes, on the one hanu, anu facilitating
the access of authoiizeu voices, on the othei."
8
(Feinnuez Biaz, 2uuS, s. 7)

8
Ny tianslation. Spanish oiiginal: "Los meuios manejan las iepiesentaciones mentales, y lo hacen meuiante el
contiol ue cieencias, conocimientos y esteieotipos, poi una paite, y facilitanuo el acceso a voces autoiizauas,
poi otia.

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The Beijing Confeience on Women oiganizeu in 199S by the 0niteu Nations iuentifieu
meuia as one of the ciitical aieas of concein foi the auvancement of women's equality anu
uevelopment. In its Platfoim foi Action, section } 1SS, it is stateu that:
"The lack of genuei sensitivity in the meuia is eviuenceu by the failuie to
eliminate the genuei-baseu steieotyping that can be founu in the public anu
piivate, local, national anu inteinational meuia oiganizations. |.j the piint
anu electionic meuia in most countiies uo not pioviue a balanceu pictuie of
women's uiveise lives anu contiibutions to society in a changing woilu. In
auuition, violent anu uegiauing of poinogiaphic meuia piouucts aie also
negatively affecting women anu theii paiticipation in society. Piogiamming
that ieinfoices women's tiauitional ioles can be equally limiting." (Naue,
2uuu, ss. 29-Su)
When it comes to the issue of aboition, this tianslates into veiy piactical consecuences.
The teiminology in the aiticles, anu the images useu to poitiay them, instantly contiibute
to the piouuction anu iepiouuction of symbolic meanings aiounu the issue, that convey a
ceitain position. The tiauitional teim +=%1,)%(, with its cultuial connotations, oi the legal
teim 9%5'(,+1C >10/(+(*C )(,011'>,)%(
7
, which contains the impoitant woiu 9%5'(,+1C" A
>10/(+(, :%&+( is not the same thing as a &%,601, noi is an 0&=1)%( oi a U0,'4 as a =+=C"
When meuia publishes an aiticle with a mothei who uoes not want hei unboin baby,
illustiateu by a 8-months piegnant belly, it is constiucting a whole uiffeient set of
symbolic anu noimative meanings that contiibute to a ceitain configuiation of powei
ielations, than if the same aiticle is about a woman, who as an active subject chooses to
inteiiupt hei piegnancy, illustiateu by foi example statistics on unwanteu piegnancies oi
similai.
2. 2 NETB0B0L0uY
This uegiee pioject is baseu on uiffeient methouological techniques, all with a qualitative
focus. In this section I will piesent biiefly the uiffeient methous applieu in the ieseaich,
but fiist I will ieflect upon my iole as a ieseaichei, intiouucing the feminist social
ieseaich peispective, anu some of the potential pioblems that aie impoitant to make
explicit anu be awaie of, in oiuei to be able to auequately uiminish them anu theii
possible effects on the ieseaich anu the analysis.
Reseaich methous aie the tools useu to achieve a ceitain aim - a quest foi knowleuge.
When cieating a physical constiuction we may neeu a hammei, in oiuei to achieve what
we aim to cieate. We may also neeu moie tools, like a saw anu a sciewuiivei; otheiwise

9
Inteiiupcion voluntaiia uel embaiazo (IvE)

9
the constiuction will not be soliu. The same goes foi the constiuction of knowleuge. We
have an objective, but we neeu to finu the iight tools - methous - to get theie. As the
methous aie the tools necessaiy to iesolve a paiticulai pioblem, the objective of the
ieseaich exeicise, it is impoitant to have a well-uefineu ieseaich question befoie setting
out to choose methous. These shoulu coiiesponu to the ieseaich question - not the othei
way aiounu
1u
, although theie is seluom only one way possible to answei a paiticulai
ieseaich question.
2. 2. 1 FENINIST S0CIAL RESEARCB
Sexual anu iepiouuctive iights, paiticulaily aboition, aie coie themes foi the feminist
oiganizations aiming at auvancing women's positions in society. Theiefoie, stuuying how
they communicate sexual anu iepiouuctive iights to the public opinion can veiy
oppoitunely be uone thiough a feminist social ieseaich peispective.
A cential issue to feminist social ieseaich is a ciitique anu iejection of the tiauitional iuea
of the existence of a value-fiee ieseaich. Insteau, it claims that all ieseaich is biaseu one
way oi the othei, anu that tiauitional social ieseaich has been genuei-blinu, analyzing anu
constiucting the expeiiences of men anu women fiom a patiiaichal point of view. This is
something feminist social ieseaich seeks to ueconstiuct, paiting fiom the assumption that
theie aie stiuctuial genuei inequalities that neeu to be auuiesseu. (Saiantakos, 2uuS;
Stanley & Wise, 2uu2)
Fuitheimoie, feminist social ieseaich uoes not see the ieseaichei as a neutial actoi, but
iathei the social conuitions of the ieseaichei (e.g. age, iace, class) play a iole in shaping
the ieseaich piocess. This is theiefoie impoitant to iuentify anu make explicit to be able to
ciitically examine the possible biases in the fiamewoiks foi unueistanuing in which they
may iesult. It is not possible to have a geneial theoiy of knowleuge, if we ignoie the social
context of the subject of knowleuge. Feminist social ieseaich can be seen as political in the
sense that it commitment to changing the status of women in society. (Saiantakos, 2uuS;
Stanley & Wise, 2uu2)
"This means that it not only uocuments aspects of ieality; it also takes a
peisonal, political anu engaging stance to the woilu." (Saiantakos, 2uuS, p. S4)
Feminist social ieseaich has not been exempt fiom ciiticism. The main ciitique has
ievolveu aiounu the peiception that it in fact uoes not uiffei much fiom othei non-

1u
Foi moie uetails about the steps in a ieseaich piocess, see (Fiey, Botan, & Kieps, 2uuu), especially pait one
"Conceptualizing Communication Reseaich".

1u
feminist ieseaich methous, anu uoes not offei genuine scientific theoiies anu methous.
(Bussain & Zaua Asau, 2u12; Nayo & Cceies, 2uu4) It may be somewhat tiue that it is not
iauically uiffeient fiom othei stakes on ieseaich. Foi example in cultuial stuuies ieseaich,
expeiience plays a key iole as well. (Pickeiing, 2uu8) Bowevei, moie than as a methou on
its own, my aim is to apply a feminist social ieseaich peispective, anu beai in minu its
basic ciiteiia when caiiying out the ieseaich methous chosen.
It is impoitant to ieflect upon one's own iole anu position as a ieseaichei when
conuucting any foim of ieseaich, anu paiticulaily social science such. This is a basic
impeiative in feminist social ieseaich, anu this is paiticulaily impoitant in the conuitions
within which this ieseaich is caiiieu out, especially iegaiuing the iisks of ethnocentiicity
in the analysis.
As a white, miuule class, acauemically euucateu, Euiopean woman, I inevitably have a
piivilegeu position in the Colombian society, that coulu iesult intimiuating in some
ieseaich situation, as it coulu geneiate a sense of imbalance between the ieseaichei anu
the paiticipants in the ieseaich. Bowevei, in ielation to the infoimants of the ieseaich,
this potential iisk is mitigateu in two senses. Fiist, the iepiesentatives of the oiganizations
that I inteivieweu uo also to a laige extent belong to the same socioeconomic status as I, in
the sense that they aie all uiban, acauemic, miuule-class women. Bowevei, although some
of them have stuuieu abioau, they aie all Colombian anu I am Euiopean, in spite of having
liveu in Colombia foi the last six anu a half yeais. This leaus to the seconu point. This will
in a gieat uegiee be mitigateu by the fact that not only have I liveu in Colombia foi a gieat
pait of my auult life, which gives me an 'insiuei' position in spite of being an 'outsiuei', but
I have also woikeu closely with these issues anu these oiganizations uuiing the main pait
of my time in Colombia.
Regaiuing the iisks of ethnocentiicity in the analysis, it is something woith taking into
account. Ny inteiest foi sexual anu iepiouuctive iights, in geneial, anu aboition, in
paiticulai, awoke when I foi the fiist time came to Latin Ameiica. Being Sweuish, I giew
up in a countiy wheie aboition is a long-since acquiieu iight, piactically unquestioneu.
Since 197S, aboition until piegnancy week 18 is a fiee meuical seivice accessible to all
women. The fiist countiy wheie I liveu in Latin Ameiica was Chile wheie, as in Colombia
befoie 2uu6, aboition is piohibiteu in all ciicumstances. Suuuenly, I founu myself
confionteu with a society anu a legislation in which aboition was not consiueieu a iight,
noi an issue conceining only the woman anu hei autonomous uecision ovei hei own
iepiouuction. This cultuial chock leu me to examine my own postuies on the issue, as well

11
as uevelop aiguments foi these. This ieseaich pioject is a pait in this ieflective exeicise,
tianslateu to an acauemic level.
Baving stateu this, I think that my accumulateu expeiience fiom woiking with these issues
in Latin Ameiica, as well as ovei a uecaue of ongoing ieflections have given me a moie
nuanceu stanupoint, moueiating the initial ieaction of a black-oi-white analysis of these
positions as simply unueiuevelopeu, ieactionaiy oi outuateu, towaius a moie
compiehensive analysis of the complexities anu cultuial paiticulaiities that compiise the
context iegaiuing sexual anu iepiouuctive iights in Latin Ameiica anu paiticulaily
Colombia.
2. 2. 2 Q0ALITATIvE INTERvIEWS
Ny piimaiy methou is qualitative inteiviews. These aie conuucteu with the public
ielations anuoi communication officials at the uiffeient Nu0s, as well as othei ielevant
iepiesentatives of the oiganization, anu with a communication agency that paiticipateu in
the elaboiation of the LAICIA stiategy anu woik specifically with civil society
oiganizations. The following inteiviews weie conuucteu:
@+=50 #R G(,019)0:4 *+11)0. %', .'1)(/ ,60 1040+1*6
#KLD *GMD "HNKOPQKRPGO
4SOPTK *GK
Piogiam uiiectoi anu lawyei that
piesenteu the lawsuit
Women's Link
Woiluwiue !KRKMPOK *UVQW#KXKHHG Foimei communicatoi
!KHGMPOK .UDYKJ Cuiient communicatoi
!KHGMPOK 4DMG Cooiuinatoi
La Nesa poi la viua y la
Saluu ue las Nujeies
>PLDOK !GHHKMDJ Communicatoi
'OK 4KHVK *UVQ Nanagei
Bijula
Comunicaciones
0UPMMDHLG !UDMMKH Biiectoi

The qualitative inteiviews conuucteu in this ieseaich weie semi-stiuctuieu, using a
geneial inteiview guiue with set questions, asking follow-up questions when necessaiy to
go into fuithei uetails iegaiuing specific iesponses.
11
An English tianslation of the
inteiview guiue is founu in the appenuix, although all inteiviews weie conuucteu in
Spanish. Aeion Bavis outlines thiee potential challenges when conuucting ieseaich
thiough qualitative inteiviews, in his chaptei G(904,)/+,)(/ $'5,'1+5 E1%.'*014 (2uu8). I

11
Foi moie infoimation on qualitative inteiview techniques, see foi example (Biyman, 2uu1; Tuinei, 2u1u)

12
will iefei to them below anu uiscuss how I have gone about each of them in my uegiee
pioject investigation.
Fiist is the selection of paiticipants. Piincipally who anu how many people shoulu be
inteivieweu. This is impoitant to ensuie some soit of iepiesentation iegaiuing the chosen
ieseaich topic. In this case the iuentification of potential paiticipants was faiily easy, as it
aims at stuuying how the oiganizations communicate exteinally, foi which the logical
choice is the peisons in chaige of communication at the iespective oiganizations. To
ensuie some alteinate views anu a bioauei spectium of visions, I inteivieweu at least two
people at each oiganization. The seconu peison being someone in a cooiuinating iole, who
uoes not necessaiily specialize in communications but as a pait of theii iole is expecteu to
have an oveiview of all the activities, incluuing communication, anu a geneial vision of the
oiganization's coie messages. Fuitheimoie, I opteu foi inteiviewing Bijula
Comunicaciones as it was the agency that helpeu stiuctuie the LACIA communication
stiategy.
The seconu challenge is that of making anu maintaining contacts with paiticipants. Foi
this ieseaich pioject, it was not pioblematic, as I have woikeu closely with many of them.
This confiuence is key as the issues aie sensitive anu some of the oiganizations have
secuiity thieats against them. What coulu potentially be pioblematic is a lack of
infoimation uue piecisely to oui familiaiity - a 'you know this alieauy so I uon't have to
tell you' appioach in the inteiviews. I intenueu to avoiu this thiough, if necessaiy,
explaining the impoitance of heaiing about it in theii own woius.
Thiiuly, iegaiuing the ongoing collection anu analysis of inteiview mateiial. As the uata is
geneiateu thioughout the ieseaich piocess, anu iueas, themes anu theoiy evolve in
inteiaction with paiticipants, each inteiview has ieseaich implications. This iequiies a
constant auaptation anu self-inteiiogation, ietuining peiiouically to the ieseaich
hypothesis anu aims to coiioboiate that the uiiection that the ieseaich is taking is aligneu
with these. In piactice, this can be uone thiough ieviewing inteiview notes iight aftei the
inteiview has taken place, anu tiansciibing as soon as possible, conuucting a pieliminaiy
analysis of the inteiview iesults. This ongoing analysis peimits foi the auaptation of the
instiuments foi the following inteiviews, anu leu to the change of stiuctuie of the
analytical chapteis seveial times uuiing the ieseaich pioject.


1S
2. 2. S BIBLI0uRAPBICAL REvIEW
Any ieseaich shoulu builu on bibliogiaphical ieview, an essential point of uepaituie that
pioviues the initial unueistanuing of a paiticulai ieseaich topic, anu moie impoitantly,
peimits the iuentification of ieseaich questions that contiibute to enhancing anu
expanuing the bouy of acauemic piouuction in the fielu. XXX in the book XXX uefines
liteiatuie ieview in the following way:
"The selection of available uocuments (both publisheu anu unpublisheu on the
topic, which contain infoimation, iueas, uata anu eviuence wiitten fiom a
paiticulai stanupoint to fulfill ceitain aims oi expiess ceitain views on the
natuie of the topic anu how it is to be investigateu, anu the effective
evaluation of these uocuments in ielation to the ieseaich being pioposeu."
(Bait, 1998, s. 1S)
Bowevei, it is impoitant to note, as uoes much of the liteiatuie on methouology
12
, that the
bibliogiaphical ieview is not limiteu to a step in the beginning of a ieseaich piocess, but
iathei a continuous component of the ieseaich, incluuing the analysis of the iesults.
Theiefoie, the bibliogiaphical ieview as a methou fills two main functions foi this
ieseaich. Fiist, is pioviues the initial theoietical anu contextual point of uepaituie. That is,
an initial bibliogiaphical ieview pioviues the necessaiy bases in teims of theoiy anu
context to be able to stiuctuie in uetail a soliu empiiical ieseaich, in this case the
inteiviews. Seconu, aftei gatheiing the empiiical uata, it pioviues the necessaiy analytical
tools to inteipiet the iesults.
Within the stiuctuie of the uegiee pioject, the bibliogiaphical ieview is integiateu in the
text, iathei than being an inuepenuent chaptei. This peimits foi a moie compiehensive
use, ieflecting continuously upon the empiiical uata in the light of ielevant liteiatuie.

12
See foi example (Cionin, Ryan, & Coughlan, 2uu8; Bait, 1998; 0nwuegbuzie, Leech, & Collins, 2u12)
S. LAICIA: A NEW C0NN0NICATI0N PARABIuN

14
S LAICIA: A NEW C0NN0NI CATI 0N PARABI uN
The lawsuits
1S
piesenteu by the lawyei Nonica Roa weie pait of a stiategy calleu LAICIA
14

cooiuinateu by Women's Link Woiluwiue. The goals of the stiategy incluueu not only
achieving the legalization (total oi paitial) of aboition, but also to accompany this with
actions to impact public opinion anu public policies on the issue. The iuea was to
consoliuate the tiansfoimation of the concept of aboition, so that it woulu go fiom being
an inuiviuual anu piincipally moial issue to being an issue of public health, genuei
equality anu social justice, anu inseit it as such in the public agenua. (uomez, 2uu6)
The positioning of aboition as a pioblem of public health, genuei equality anu social
justice, was baseu on facts on the magnituue of anu the uevastating consequences
clanuestine aboition hau in the countiy. Foi example, the estimation was that
appioximately Suu.uuu
1S
clanuestine aboitions weie piacticeu annually in the countiy
while it was illegal, anu almost one of foui of all Colombian women have hau at least one
inuuceu aboition. (Zamuuio, Rubiano, & Waitenbeig, 1999)
A stuuy by the Public Bealth vigilance System, SIvIuILA, citeu in the lawsuits, shows that
aboition helu a thiiu place among mateinal moitality causes in Colombia between 1992
anu 1996, iepiesenting 16% of mateinal ueaths
16
. (Roa, 2uuSa; Roa, 2uuSb) An even
gieatei numbei of women suffei yeaily seveie consequences on theii health uue to
insecuie aboition piactices, such as the extiaction of the uteius, the fallopian tubes anuoi
the ovaiies, oi inflammation in the fallopian tubes that elevates the iisk of infeitility anu
ectopic piegnancies in the futuie, ectopic piegnancies being one of the most fiequent
causes of ueath if no immeuiate tieatment possibilities aie available. (Ninisteiio ue la
Pioteccion Social, 2uu7)
Regaiuing aboition as an issue of genuei equality, the lawsuits weie laigely baseu on legal
aigumentation on women's iights, founueu in national anu inteinational human iights
legislation, aiguing the complete aboition piohibition as a violation of women's human

1S
Two lawsuits weie piesenteu, the fiist on Apiil 14
th
2uuS anu the seconu that leu to the paitial legalization
of aboition, on Becembei 12
th
2uuS.
14
Q),)/)% .0 L5,% G&>+*,%R 5+ G(*%(4,),'*)%(+5).+. .05 L=%1,% 0( $%5%&=)+ (Bigh Impact Litigation: the
0nconstitutionality of Aboition in Colombia)
1S
Theie aie uiffeient estimates, but Suu.uuu was one of the most fiequently mentioneu numbeis at the time,
also in official uocuments as foi example (Ninisteiio ue la Pioteccion Social, 2uu7). Foi a iefeience to uiffeient
methous of measuiing clanuestine aboition iates, see foi example (Caibajal, 2uu7)
16
Aftei toxemia (SS%) anu complications uuiing laboi anu biith (2S%)

1S
iights. Fuitheimoie, the piohibition of aboition is closely linkeu to cultuial noims
unueipinning genuei inequality, such as the ovei-valuation of mateinity, iecognizing
women foi theii iepiouuctive capacities ovei any othei social functions. This constiuction
of a cultuial imaginaiy of women as fiist anu foiemost motheis, anu with theii own
subjectivity anu autonomy in the backgiounu legitimizes anti-aboition social piactices
anuoi legislation (Luna, 2uuS).

Theiefoie, the accessibility to aboition uoes not only
uepenu on the legal fiamewoik, but also of the political will anu piioiity given to the issue,
anu the possibility of women to constiuct themselves as autonomous subjects.
17

Finally, the illegality of aboition also comes with an impoitant social inequality uimension.
Clanuestine aboition iates aie high, but its piactice is almost nevei penalizeu. Theiefoie,
although socially toleiateu to some uegiee, the legal piohibition coveis a uiffeient piice
foi uiffeient social sectois, as the access to a safe pioceuuie is not guaianteeu by the
public health system anu is possible only foi those who count on the economic iesouices
anu the infoimation necessaiy. These social inequalities aie also ieflecteu in mateinal
moitality iates that show the uneven uistiibution between iegions anu uiffeient women
uepenuing on theii socioeconomic status.
18

S. 1 TBE ELAB0RATI0N 0F TBE LAICIA C0NN0NICATI0N STRATEuY
Foi the communication component of the LAICIA pioject, Women's Link Woiluwiue
contacteu the then iecently constituteu communication agency Bijula Comunicaciones,
focuseu on the social sectoi V:0 :%1W *%&&'()*+,)%( 4,1+,0/)04 U%1 ).0+4B (%, U%1 =1+(.4X
#7
.
Nonica Roa fiom Women's Link Woiluwiue uesciibes how the fiist steps weie taken:
"When we weie staiting LAICIA with Clauuia, we weie looking foi someone in
communications, anu someone gave us the phone numbei to Bijula. Anu we
calleu anu we hau to hang up because we iealizeu that we hau no iuea what
we weie going to say to them. The iuea that Y*%&&'()*+,)%(4Z hau to be a pait,
was veiy cleai fiom the beginning, what was not so cleai was what that
tianslateu to in piactice. I think that with Bijula theie was a lot of leaining
togethei fiom the beginning, of how these kinus of communication stiategies
aie maue aiticulating them with othei stiategies, in this case one of litigation."
(Inteiview with Nonica Roa, Women's Link Woiluwiue)
Ana Naiia Ruiz anu uuilleimo Cuellai, managei anu uiiectoi iespectively of Bijula

17
This line of ieasoning is also founu in the lawsuit piesenteu by Nonica Roa on Becembei 12
th
2uuS, unuei
the subtitle G/'+5.+., in section S K%,)9+*)%(04 .0 5+ 9)%5+*)H(, anu in the lawsuit fiom Apiil 14
th
2uuS, in the
section S [010*6% + 5+ )/'+5.+. C + 04,+1 5)=10 .0 .)4*1)&)(+*)H( \+1,]*'5% #; C A; $"E"^ (Roa, 2uuSa; Roa, 2uuSb)
18
See foi example (Ninisteiio ue la Pioteccion Social, 2uu7) oi (Piofamilia, 2u11)
19
Inteiview with Ana Naiia Ruiz anu uuilleimo Cuellai fiom Bijula Comunicaciones

16
Comunicaciones explain the logic behinu foimulating a stiategy that positioneu aboition
in the teims iefeienceu above, in a highly conseivative anu Catholic social context:
"The point is the chaiactei of the issue. If the chaiactei of aboition, the
aboition uebate, is a legal peispective, then the ones that oppose it will have
to oppose it fiom the legal peispective. |.j This is why we always saiu that it
is not a moial issue, anu when Nonica staiteu the piocess we saiu 'nevei evei
let youiself be placeu in a uebate in fiont of a piiest. Nevei. Noi in a moial
theme.' The uiscussion of aboition is not a moial theme. The stiategy was, anu
this was won, that we neeueu the uebate to pass fiom a moial line with ceitain
authoiizeu authois, to a legal line with seveial authois. This uoes not happen
because the moial line uisappeais, the chuich will push, peimanently, but as
we consistently uon't play theii game, the uebate will tuin legal. Anu this was
achieveu in Colombia. That is, it was achieveu that the uebate tuineu
funuamentally legal oi on health, of couise with agents like the chuich that
will always be pushing." (Inteiview with Ana Naiia Ruiz anu uuilleimo
Cuellai, Bijula Comunicaciones)
The pioposeu objective of the communication stiategy was to "Implement a
communication stiategy that accompany, impulse anu piomote spaces foi uivulgation of
the legal action, always looking foi oppoitunities foi uissemination anu geneiating
communicative movements accoiuing to the ciicumstances". (}aiamillo Sieiia & Alfonso
Sieiia, 2uu8, p. 81) In oiuei to uo this, foui phases weie initially planneu uuiing the
piocess of the lawsuit:
1. G(*10+4)(/ +:+10(044: pievious to the lawsuit in oiuei to establish alliances, inciease
awaieness among jouinalists anu elaboiating mateiials anu piess folueis.
2. Q+'(*6: uuiing the piesentation of the lawsuit in oiuei to keep up the attention to
the piocess.
S. K+)(,0(+(*0: maintaining the issue in the meuia agenua by geneiating peaks of
infoimation, anu piepaiing foi the possible scenaiios aftei the iuling.
4. E%4,_1'5)(/: Nanagement of an auequate position facing the public opinion in any
scenaiio. (}aiamillo Sieiia & Alfonso Sieiia, 2uu8)
Each of these phases hau seveial components: i) key messages (basic aiguments anu
answeis to uifficult questions), ii) tiaining of spokespeisons (pievious to ielations with
the piess, incluuing tiaining of expeit allies such as uoctois anu juuges, in uiffeient
appioaches), iii) uatabase (complete list of key Colombian jouinalists foi the issue,
categoiizeu accoiuing to uiffeient neeus oi appioaches), iv) piess folueis (uocumentation
with infoimative anu foimative aiguments foi jouinalists - incluuing meuical aiguments,
public health statistics, inteinational law, women's human iights, Colombian legal
pieceuents, the aiguments in the lawsuit, anu a piess ielease about the lawsuit), v)

17
monitoiing (tiacking of the publications on the pioject anu ielateu issues to analyze
achievements anu uifficulties in teims of impact), anu vi) follow-up meetings (peiiouic
meetings to evaluate the woik in communications. (}aiamillo Sieiia & Alfonso Sieiia,
2uu8)
The fiist anu seconu phase weie caiiieu out as initially planneu, wheieas uuiing phase
thiee anu foui, the contiol ovei the issue in the meuia was no longei in the hanus of
Women's Link Woiluwiue anu theii stiategic allies in the LAICIA pioject, which meant
having to iesponu to sometimes unfoieseen ciicumstances. Women's Link Woiluwiue,
howevei, helu the impoitant auvantage of having envisioneu the stiategy anu its uiffeient
moments aheau.
It can be aigueu that LAICIA changeu the paiauigm on how these issues weie
communicateu to the public opinion:
"At least LAICIA is the fiist wiuely known exeicise of unueistanuing the woik
in sexual anu iepiouuctive iights fiom the peispective of the auuience anu not
the activist. |.j We saiu that it is not about what we want to say; it is about
what people neeu to heai to unueistanu. |.j Buman iights aie solutions.
Coiiect solutions, but if you uon't show the pioblem they iesolve you enu up
in activism. You have to show what the issue is that they iesolve. So then, the
fiist effoit was to say 'ok, we aie not going to sit uown anu uesign a soit of
campaign with the message that we consiuei to be coiiect, we aie going to
talk about what is stiategic in oiuei to get the auuiences that we neeu to listen
anu uiscuss. Anu I am soiiy but this is not an issue of iights in the fiist place,
it's an issue of the situation that can be iesolveu iegaiuing iights.' Anu that's
how it was establisheu. That is why the most pieuominant message that we
manageu in the whole LAICIA scheme was that women aie uying. You can
think what you want, be the most catholic peison in the woilu, but 7u ueau
women a yeai, nobouy can agiee with that." (Inteiview with Ana Naiia Ruiz
anu uuilleimo Cuellai)
Not only uiu the types of messages tiansmitteu change in LAICIA compaieu to how the
uebate hau tiauitionally been configuieu, but also the intenueu auuiences. Tiauitionally,
the public uebate on sexual anu iepiouuctive iights in geneial, anu aboition in paiticulai
hau been one of extiemes, of the ones in favoi (the women's movement) anu the ones
against (the conseivative sectois of society, in paiticulai the chuich), wheie neithei of the
siues woulu enu up convincing the othei siue. Foi LAICIA, the intenueu public was the one
in between the two positions. The stiategy foi woiking with the auuiences hau two
funuamental axes, favoiability anu influence. The iuea was to achieve iesults
simultaneously by on the one hanu manage to shift the ones with miuule positions, that is,
the geneial public, a little bit moie towaius favoiability, anu on the othei hanu iaise the
piofile anu the influence in the public uebate of those on the fai favoiable siue:

18
"While the uebate has been in black oi white, in eithei you agiee oi you
uisagiee, without nuances, anu without valiuating all the possibilities of
positions in the miuule, it has been veiy bau foi the movement in geneial. |.j
When we talk not about being in favoi oi against, all oi nothing, but in some
ciicumstances, in which ciicumstances, what we uo is offei people moie
options to agiee on something. Not with all oi nothing but agiee on something,
anu I think that allows foi auuing up moie people to the piocess." (Inteiview
with Nonica Roa, Women's Link Woiluwiue)
With this way of thinking, of not convincing the opposition but iathei the unueciueu
masses, anu of intiouucing a spectium of moie 'moueiate' positions in the uebate, LAICIA
was a fiist in social movements in Colombia, anu giounubieaking also on the continent.
Womens Link Woiluwiue as well as Bijula Comunicaciones have since tiaineu othei
social movements aiounu Latin Ameiica in how to elaboiate communication stiategies as
integial components within laigei social change stiategies.
S. 2 TBE INPACT 0F LAICIA
Wheieas it is cleai that LAICIA was giounubieaking iegaiuing how oiganizations hau
been managing communications up until then, it is impoitant to assess whethei this shift
in appioach also implieu some change in teims of impact on the public opinion.
Accoiuing to Women's Link Woiluwiue, in a biochuie citing infoimation fiom seveial
opinion polls in uiffeient meuia, theii stiategy hau an impoitant impact:
"|.j in Nay 2uuS, just a month aftei having piesenteu the lawsuit, 8S% of the
Colombian population was against any kinu of libeialization of aboition; in
Naich 2uu6, befoie the couit issueu its uefinitive iuling, foi the fiist time in
the histoiy of the countiy, the suppoit foi the libeialization of aboition in the
pioposeu ciicumstances ieacheu majoiity, S4%; once the iuling was issueu,
suppoit iaiseu to almost 6S%, anu came to its maximum of 8S% in the
following August, when a public hospital piacticeu the fiist legal aboition on
an 11-yeai olu minoi iapeu by hei stepfathei."
2u
(Women's Link Woiluwiue,
2uu7)
0thei stuuies that have been maue on the positioning of the issue in the piess, confiim
that effectively aboition became an issue on the public agenua uuiing the time of the couit
iuling. Bowevei, this coulu of couise have been the case even without a communication
stiategy like LAICIA, as a possible libeialization of aboition legislation in a countiy like
Colombia is a 'hot topic', anu likely to catch the attention of meuia anyway. Accoiuing to a
stuuy on the effects of the aboition libeialization, between 2uuu anu 2uu4, aboition was
mentioneu six times in the news, wheieas uuiing the fiist foui months of the LAICIA

2u
Ny tianslation fiom Spanish

19
pioject, the issue was biought up thiiteen times in meuia, anu in seveial of these,
aiguments uesigneu as a pait of the communication stiategy weie useu. (}aiamillo Sieiia
& Alfonso Sieiia, 2uu8) In anothei stuuy, with a compaiative piess analysis on the issue of
aboition between two uiffeient time peiious, it is eviuent that the tieatment of the issue of
aboition in the Colombian piess has shifteu towaiu moie favoiable positions on the one
hanu, anu fiom a stiong emphasis on ethical anu ieligious aspects on the othei.
N1+>6)* #R [)4,1)=',)%( %U >%4),)%(4
!#
10/+1.)(/ +=%1,)%( )( $%5%&=)+( >1044" $%&>+1)4%(
=0,:00( #72?_#77A +(. !TT`_!TT7"

Souice: 0wn elaboiation baseu on (Baln, 2u11)
N1+>6)* !R [)4,1)=',)%( %U ,60&+,)* 0&>6+4)4
!!
10/+1.)(/ +=%1,)%( )( $%5%&=)+( >1044"
$%&>+1)4%( =0,:00( #72?_#77A +(. !TT`_!TT7"

Souice: 0wn elaboiation baseu on (Baln, 2u11)

21
Favoiable - aiticles that expiess pieuominantly positions in favoi of a legalization of aboition. 0nfavoiable
- aiticles that expiess pieuominantly positions against a legalization of aboition. Neutial - aiticles that uo not
expiess an explicit position eithei in favoi oi against. Nixeu - aiticles that piesent aiguments both in favoi
anu against.
22
Ethical-ieligious - aiticles that have a main emphasis on aboition as a moial oi ieligious issue. Neuical -
aiticles that have a main emphasis on the meuical oi health aspects of aboition. Legal-political - aiticles that
have a main emphasis on legal anu political aspects of aboition. Sociological anu testimonial - aiticles that
have a main emphasis on aboition fiom the expeiiential peispective of women. Infoimative - aiticles that
appeai to cite textually peisonal anu institutional ueclaiations.
1S,2%
46,1%
SS,1%
S,7%
41,7%
S,8%
46,S%
6,2%
u,u%
1u,u%
2u,u%
Su,u%
4u,u%
Su,u%
Favoiable 0nfavoiable Neutial Nixeu
197S-1994 2uu6-2uu9
Su,7%
9,S%
S6,9%
Su,9%
18,7%
Su,S%
17,u%
S4,8%
1u,8%
SS,9%
u,u%
2u,u%
4u,u%
6u,u%
Ethical-ieligious Neuical Legal-political Sociological anu
testimonial
Infoimative
197S-1994 2uu6-2uu9

2u
Again, it is impoitant to point out that a shift taken place ovei foui uecaues by no means
can be attiibuteu only to a campaign that lasteu just ovei a yeai. It is neveitheless
inteiesting to note that uuiing the yeais immeuiately following the paitial libeialization of
aboition anu the LAICIA campaign, the thematic emphasis pusheu by LAICIA iepiesent an
impoitant poition of the piess mateiial, wheieas the ethical-ieligious aspect, mainly
iepiesenteu by the chuich, uecieaseu in impoitance. Bijula Comunicaciones coinciue,
anu holu that this change is peimanent iathei than ciicumstantial:
"It is veiy uifficult to think that the public scenaiio woulu go back to what it
was befoie 2uu4. I think that it is alieauy gaineu giounu. |.j It is possible to
speak about these issues that weie foibiuuen. It is possible to take a stanu,
anu it is possible to uo it without getting buint. But above all, the souices to
speak about the issue aie no longei limiteu only to the hieiaichs of the chuich,
which was always, always the case in this countiy foi these issues. 'Who talks
about that. Someone is piomoting it, who is opposeu, heie you have youi
piiest'. Always, always." (Inteiview with Ana Naiia Ruiz anu uuilleimo
Cuellai, Bijula Comunicaciones)
Fuitheimoie, the oiganizations woiking with sexual anu iepiouuctive iights in Colombia
have changeu the way they manage communications:
"Theie is a cleai uiffeience fiom when we staiteu 1u yeais ago anu touay, anu
it is that the oiganizations aie moie anu moie awaie of the necessity of
thinking about communications, of making communications pait of theii
entiie planning exeicise. Ten yeais ago this was not the case. But they have
also mouifieu the vision of public communication. This will sounu ugly, but
they have toneu uown the activism, they have toneu uown the convincing of
the iight way. That was the pieuominant communication exeicise 1u yeais
ago. That is, 1u yeais ago the Nu0s in geneial supposeu that theii exteinal
communication laboi consisteu in uisseminating what they knew was iight to
the people who uiun't. Anu when these people leaint, the social mobilization
woulu stait. This is cleaily not the case." (Inteiview with Ana Naiia Ruiz anu
uuilleimo Cuellai, Bijula Comunicaciones)
LAICIA was the pioject within which the lawsuits that finally leu to the paitial
libeialization of aboition in Colombia weie piesenteu. This pioject incluueu a
communication stiategy as a significant component aimeu at libeializing aboition not only
legally, but also cultuially. It iepiesenteu a new paiauigm in how communication was
useu by civil society in Colombia in social change piocesses, anu contiibuteu to a shift in
the public agenua on sexual anu iepiouuctive iights anu aboition. In the next chaptei, I
will analyze how this pioject, elaboiateu by one oiganization in a context of a bioau
women's movement, was ieceiveu anu in what way communication effoits aie aiticulateu
touay with meuia anu with othei oiganizations.
4. ARTIC0LATI0N ANB ALINEATI0N

21
4 ARTI C0LATI 0N ANB ALI ENATI 0N
LAICIA built on the woik of women's movements in Colombia since the 197u's
2S
, with
positioning legal aboition within the scope of women's iights. Theiefoie, even though
LAICIA can be seen as a histoiic milestone, it was baseu on impoitant pieceuents, anu
actois that hau been visible in the uebate befoie Nonica Roa anu Womens Link
Woiluwiue came into the pictuie. In this sense, although the LAICIA stiategy was
elaboiateu piincipally by Women's Link Woiluwiue anu Bijula Comunicaciones, the
auheience of otheis to the campaign was a key component. In this chaptei, I will piesent
how this aiticulation between uiffeient actois took foim, anu how it has uevelopeu until
touay. I will focus on two types of alliances, on the one hanu with the meuia, the channel
thiough which the messages fiom the oiganizations aie tiansmitteu, anu on the othei
hanu between oiganizations anu with othei stiategic allies in the cause.
4. 1 NEBIA RELATI0NS
Buiing the initial phases of LAICA, a uetaileu mapping was maue of meuia outlets anu
jouinalists, categoiizing level of influence, appioaches, coveiage (local oi national), etc.,
anu piess folueis
24
weie hanueu out to jouinalists, as well as contact uetails to Nonica Roa
anu viviana Waisman of Women's Link Woiluwiue, Niguel Ronueios (meuical uoctoi),
Isabel 0itiz (women's iights activist) anu Sanuia Nazo (fiom the oiganization Catholics
foi a Fiee Choice), who weie all pieviously tiaineu as spokespeisons. Fiom the launch of
the piess folueis until }anuaiy 2uu6, the lawsuit anu the couit piocess was mentioneu in
SS opinion columns in El Tiempo
2S
, 1S7 opinion columns in othei publications, 7 euitoiials
in El Tiempo anu 17 in othei publications, 86 newscasts, 24 fiont pages, anu in S
iefeiences as peison of the yeai. (}aiamillo Sieiia & Alfonso Sieiia, 2uu8) This was all pait
of a meuia stiategy elaboiateu by piofessionals anu that hau financing, howevei, the
actual meuia uisplay anu the numbeis of mentions weie all an effect of a well-planneu
impact stiategy, anu in no instance uue to having paiu money foi being mentioneu in
euitoiials. (}aiamillo Sieiia & Alfonso Sieiia, 2uu8; Inteiview with Nonica Roa)

2S
The fiist intent to legalize aboition in Colombia was a bill piesenteu to the Congiess in 197S by senatoi Ivn
Lopez. The Colombian feminist movement, thiough the fiist National Women's uatheiing (a(*'0(,1% I+*)%(+5
30&)()4,+) in 1978 ueciueu to suppoit the inteinational campaign foi the iight to aboition. See foi example
(Baiiaza Noielle, 2uu9; La Nesa poi la viua y la Saluu ue las Nujeies, 2uu9; viveios, 1999)
24
The piess foluei in Spanish can be uownloaueu heie:
http:www.womenslinkwoiluwiue.oigwlwnew.php.mouo=uetalle_piensa&uc=Su8
2S
Colombia's laigest newspapei with national ciiculation

22
Buiing this time theie weie close stiategic ielationships with jouinalists, which was
ieflecteu in the aiguments piesenteu anu the souices useu. Bowevei, uuiing the yeais
immeuiately aftei the libeialization of the aboition legislation, the most visible voices
weie ieuuceu to two peisons, which weie fiequently calleu upon by meuia as
iepiesentatives of the Colombian women's movement; Nonica Roa fiom Women's Link
Woiluwiue anu Floience Thomas
26
, who both alieauy hau well-establisheu ielations with
meuia. In the case of Floience Thomas, although she is a founuing membei of La Nesa, one
of the oiganizations that aie the subject of stuuy in this investigation, she was most
fiecuently citeu foi hei inuiviuual meiits as a feminist authoi anu columnist, without
explicit iefeience to La Nesa as an oiganization. (Baln, 2u11) It seems as though the
uiffeient oiganizations of the Colombian women's movement, in spite of theii histoiic
tiajectoiy in these issues weie unable to use the moment to position themselves as
piincipal iefeients foi meuia in these issues.
Caiolina Bueas, the cuiient communicatoi at Women's Link Woiluwiue, ielates that the
oiganization has manageu to maintain these tight bounus with some meuia touay:
"Women's Link has a soliu ielationship with foi example El Espectauoi
27
. El
Espectauoi, foi its jouinalistic anu iueological piofile, let's say that it takes in
alot of the issues we woik with, anu also with inuiviuual jouinalists that have
come to know the woik of Women's Link thiough the couit iuling anu then
have kept following what we uo. So theie aie close ielations to jouinalists,
whom we can call anu say 'we have this theme', anu they have of couise all the
fieeuom to ueciue if they take it oi not. But foi example with El Espectauoi it
is veiy common that they embiace oui themes." (Inteiview with Caiolina
Bueas, Women's Link Woiluwiue)
La Nesa, on the othei hanu, has a less continuous ielationship with meuia. Ximena Coiieal,
the communicatoi at La Nesa explains that a pioblem with maintaining these ielations is
the high iotation of jouinalists, that is, once a ielationship is establisheu, the peison is
ieplaceu by anothei anu the effoit is somewhat lost. Auuitionally, La Nesa is not
consiueieu a piimaiy souice by meuia:
"In meuia, the baiiieis aie in the souices. The souices aie essentially official. I
uon't even see Women's Link theie. Anu they aie inteinational anu all. They
aie theie, cleaily, but it is neithei substantial noi iepiesentative. In meuia
they tuin to the official. This happeneu to us in RCN
28
, the giil inteivieweu

26
A feminist activist, ex piofessoi at the National 0niveisity anu founuing membei of La Nesa poi la viua y la
Saluu ue las Nujeies. She is the authoi of seveial books anu has a stanuing opinion column in El Tiempo wheie
she wiites fiom a feminist peispective.
27
The seconu laigest newspapei in Colombia with national ciiculation
28
0ne of Colombia's laigest meuia netwoiks, within television anu iauio.

2S
Caiolina, anu then she tolu us that 'they haven't let me publish it because I
uon't have an official souice, just you'. Theie aie baiiieis, 'who is La Nesa, foi
you to appeai in meuia.' is a little bit what they aie saying to us." (Inteiview
with Ximena Coiieal, La Nesa poi la viua y la Saluu ue las Nujeies)
Women's Link Woiluwiue has the positioning of themselves as iefeiences in establisheu
meuia as one of theii piimaiy goals within theii woik with communications, anu have
elaboiateu anu implementeu stiategies foi uoing so. Neanwhile, La Nesa is less cleai
about its stiategic ielations to meuia. 0n the one hanu, Ximena expiesses the necessity to
establish anu maintain some ielations to meuia, but on the othei hanu the positioning of
La Nesa as a piimaiy souice in issues ielateu to sexual anu iepiouuctive iights is not
uefineu as an explicit objective, noi aie theie systematic actions taken in that sense.
Catalina Ruiz-Navaiio, foimei communicatoi at Women's Link Woiluwiue, points out that
an obstacle in the ielations to meuia anu the communication of sexual anu iepiouuctive
iights to the public opinion, besiues fiom how anu what type of messages aie foimulateu,
which will be elaboiateu upon fuithei in the next chaptei, is how the ielationships of the
civil society oiganizations with the meuia aie manageu:
"Sometimes they |,60 %1/+()b+,)%(4j aie iuue, oi sometimes they aie not
available, they uon't answei the phone. In Colombia meuia stait at Sam, they
call you on the phone, anu if you aie a spokespeison anu they call you at Sam
anu you uon't give Caiacol
29
an inteiview, they won't call you evei again.
Because they can't tiust you. If you give the jouinalist the wiong infoimation,
they won't tiust you again. So then you see that many women that paiticipate
in this aie nevei calleu. Because they uon't answei the phone, because they
give the wiong infoimation, because they give the infoimation anu then they
complain. They foiget that foi example news piouuction is a 1S-minute, half
an houi thing anu that's it. It's not 'I'll call you tomoiiow anu tomoiiow I'll
give you the inteiview'. That cannot be uone. That is one of the biggest
mistakes theie aie, fiom the oiganizations." (Inteiview with Catalina Ruiz-
Navaiio, Women's Link Woiluwiue)
Nany women's oiganizations in Colombia, incluuing La Nesa, function as collectives,
wheie uecisions aie taken thiough consensus. While this has impoitant uemociatic
funuaments, it coulu potentially ieuuce the possibility foi oiganizations like La Nesa to
iesponu with statements in meuia on ceitain issues on the piemises anu within the
timefiames uemanueu by meuia.

29
0ne of Colombia's laigest meuia netwoiks, within television anu iauio.

24
4. 2 0TBER 0RuANIZATI0NS ANB ALLIES
LAICIA was baseu on the piemises that bioau alliances weie a key stiategic element, not
only foi the communication component, but also to geneiate othei types of suppoit,
incluuing +&)*'4 *'1)+0-inteiventions to the couit. Within the women's movement, La
Nesa was at that time iuentifieu as a piincipal ally, anu weie piesenteu to the pioject at an
eaily stage anu weie constantly upuateu with piivilegeu infoimation in oiuei to be able to
take action anu iesponu to meuia iequests when necessaiy. (}aiamillo Sieiia & Alfonso
Sieiia, 2uu8)
Bowevei, although all key oiganizations within the Colombian women's movement
woiking with sexual anu iepiouuctive iights weie infoimeu pieviously about LAICIA, anu
inviteu to paiticipate in the stiategy, it was not an invitation to negotiate its contents anu
its piemises. Fuitheimoie, it was an explicit stiategy by Women's Link Woiluwiue to
incluue wiue sectois of society anu piesent a somewhat 'moueiate' ihetoiic in oiuei to
win ovei the masses. This implieu a uistancing fiom some of the moie tiauitionally iauical
postuies of the feminist movement, incluuing avoiuing to cite uocumentation piouuceu by
women's oiganizations in the piess foluei mateiials, anu incluuing veiy few civil society
women in theii list of expeits available foi meuia (the thiee incluueu in a long list weie
iefeiieu to as women's iights expeits). Noieovei, the women's movement was nevei
publically citeu as a key ally in piess confeiences anu mateiial. (}aiamillo Sieiia & Alfonso
Sieiia, 2uu8)
This stiategy aiose fiom the necessity to ue-polaiize the uebate anu win ovei a ciitical
mass of the public opinion, anu thus avoiu a too close association with the feminist
movement, peiceiveu in some sectois of Colombian society as too iauical anu conflictive,
which coulu possibly obstiuct the achievement of the goals pioposeu. (}aiamillo Sieiia &
Alfonso Sieiia, 2uu8) Bowevei, such a stiategy uiu not come without costs. Put bluntly, a
young
Su
Baivaiu-schooleu lawyei, with no significant tiajectoiy in the Colombian feminist
movement, comes out of nowheie anu steals the spotlight, achieving something that the
movement hau spent the last foui uecaues fighting foi. It was not ieceiveu with stanuing
ovations in all sectois. Theiefoie, some of the oiganizations belonging to the moie iauical
fiactions withuiew theii suppoit fiom LAICIA, aiguing that the pioject coiiesponueu to a
veiy limiteu view of the libeialization of aboition within the feminist agenua, piivileging
tactical inteiests ovei stiategic ones, in giving moie impoitance to the achievement of a
minimal legal iefoim insteau of fighting foi the tiansfoimation of the way mateinity is

Su
By the time the couit issueu its iuling, legalizing aboition, Nonica hau just tuineu Su yeais.

2S
socially assumeu anu unueistoou. The moie libeial anu acauemic feminist fiactions in
geneial withhelu theii suppoit to LAICA aiguing that given the elitist political scenaiio anu
the uemociatic iestiictions of the countiy, having Nonica Roa appeai as a 'fiee agent',
speaking the political language of the elites, was the only way of ieally achieving any
auvances. (}aiamillo Sieiia & Alfonso Sieiia, 2uu8)
This paitial fiactioning of a civil society movement in fiont of a cause that they all
funuamentally suppoiteu, albeit fiom uiffeient peispectives, can have leu to women's
oiganizations losing potential meuia attention anu influence in the yeais that have
followeu the couit iuling, wheie infoimation has been ciucial foi the implementation of
the legislation.
As of touay, although foices aie joineu occasionally both oiganizations stuuieu holu that
theie is no continuous woik togethei with othei oiganizations in the same fielu, noi is
theie a common stiategy in theii communications.
"It uepenus on the scenaiio anu the ciicumstances. Theie aie themes weie the
oiganizations that woik foi sexual anu iepiouuctive iights conveige anu then
we uo it togethei. Foi example uebates in the Congiess. Theie we foim
alliances. 0i piocesses that inteiest us, foi example the ieelection of the
E1%*'1+.%1
;#
" Theie aie othei things that oiiginate fiom La Nesa, but we tuin
to othei oiganizations foi suppoit in the uissemination." (Inteiview with
Caiolina Nelo, La Nesa poi la viua y la Saluu ue las Nujeies)
"Noieovei, I think that theie aie many things to communicate within the
theme of aboition in geneial anu sexual anu iepiouuctive iights. So then it
seems useful to me that theie aie uiffeient messages." (Inteiview with Nonica
Roa, Women's Link Woiluwiue)
Women's Link Woiluwiue uefines the builuing of alliances as one of theii main methous of
woik when it comes to the cieation of new legal stanuaius (togethei with the legal anu the
communications stiategies). Bowevei, these alliances aie not necessaiily tieu to the
communications activities, they aie iathei aimeu at complementing uiffeient kinus of
expeitise in oiuei to make the objective in common a ieality. Ximena Coiieal of La Nesa
naiiates:
"Theie is moie aiticulation on an inteinational than on a national level |.j If
we want to influence in meuia, it is veiy uifficult to go alone as Nesa. Bow nice
it woulu be to be able to connect with otheis who aie also woiking on the

S1
This position uoes not have an equivalent in English, but can be ioughly tianslateu as Inspectoi ueneial, anu
is the highest iesponsible foi the guaiantee of human iights anu the vigilance anu sanctioning of public
seivants. The position is cuiiently helu by Alejanuio 0iuoez who iepiesents a highly conseivative iight-wing
anu ieligious agenua, anu has iepeateuly tiieu to iestiict access to legal aboition. Be was ieelecteu by the
Congiess foi a seconu foui-yeai teim in 2u12.

26
issue. Anu how nice it woulu be to be able to get to foi example Baiianquilla,
Caitagena. But foi that we neeu time, people, moie alliances." (Inteiview with
Ximena Coiieal, La Nesa poi la viua y la Saluu ue las Nujeies)
The team fiom Bijula Comunicaciones sees this lack of cooiuination between Colombian
oiganizations as a pioblem anu a potential iisk:
"I think that it woulu be stiategically impoitant to look foi a way to woik
togethei. A common line of action in communications. Which uoes not mean
that all have to accept the communication piece oi the campaign, no. But what
was won piesenting publically an issue in a ueteimineu way, with many
voices, which was what was uone thiough LAICIA anu aftei LAICIA, can be
bioken when the effoits aie focuseu on inuiviuual uefense, anu when that
inuiviuual uefense captuies all the spaces anu the time anu the iesouices. |.j
Theie is stiong piessuie anu up until now inuiviuual effoits have been maue,
the oiganizations have uone what they have hau to uo in teims of uefenuing
themselves, but I think theie aie conciete actions by the opposition that
ueseive thinking collectively about what to uo." (Inteiview with Ana Naiia
Ruiz anu uuilleimo Cuellai, Bijula Comunicaciones)
The oiganizations uiffei to some extent in iueology, wheie Women's Link Woiluwiue take
a moie 'moueiate' oi 'conciliatoiy' stance, to put it some way, towaius the moie
conseivative anu poweiful sectois of society, wheieas La Nesa holu a moie tiauitional anu
in some ways iauical feminist position. These uiffeiences seem to leau to each
oiganization foimulating theii own communication stiategy anu taking actions
inuiviuually, oi in sepaiate netwoiks of actois. In the next chaptei, I will analyze how the
oiganizations' communication stiategies look touay to iuentify syneigies anu uiffeiences
between them.

S. AN INPACT IN AN ABvERSE C0NTEXT

27
S AN I NPACT I N AN ANBvERSE C0NTEXT
An impoitant uiffeience in the context can be iuentifieu when compaiing the peiiou of the
constitutional couit iuling almost a uecaue ago with touay. LAICIA was a paiauigm shift;
communications was appioacheu uiffeiently than how civil society hau tiauitionally uone.
This implieu that the opposition siue was caught 'off-guaiu', anu alloweu foi the sexual
anu iepiouuctive iights oiganizations to set the agenua anu intiouuce theii aiguments
anu peispectives into the uebate. Touay, the situation is uiffeient. This chaptei exploies
how communication stiategies anu actions aie elaboiateu anu caiiieu out in ielation to
the cuiient context.
S. 1 BACKLASB: C0NN0NICATINu REACTIvELY
Wheieas the oiganizations a uecaue ago weie able to catch the opposition somewhat 'off-
guaiu', the situation is anothei touay:
"I holu that with LAICIA we caught them a little sleepy. They uiun't see it
coming, the uimension of what was coming. They uiun't see it. When they saw
it, they moveu. Anu unfoitunately paitly uue to them moving is what we see in
the iest of the continent. They have also mouifieu theii public scheme."
(Inteiview with Ana Naiia Ruiz anu uuilleimo Cuellai, Bijula
Comunicaciones)
Nonica Roa uesciibes the situation aftei the initial success this way:
"It is impoitant to take into account what the backlash will be. I say that this is
a penuulum. These political things always woik as a penuulum, so then if you
push it haiu, it will come back. Anu the woik is to, as you know that it will
come this way, tiy not to let it catch you uistiacteu." (Inteiview with Nonica
Roa, Women's Link Woiluwiue)
This way, the legal change is the means, but not the enu, to achieve a iight. Legislation can
be an instiument in a piocess of cultuial changes, but while a legal text can be changeu
fiom one uay to anothei, the cultuial tiansfoimations iequiieu foi its full acceptance can
take much longei, especially in a polemic anu complex issue as legalization of aboition. All
inteiviewees agiee that one of the main obstacles that the oiganizations have faceu since
the couit iuling is the guaiantee of the effective implementation of the paitial legalization
in piactice.
Accoiuing to a iecent stuuy by the uuttmachei Institute, in 2uu8, two yeais aftei the
legalization, only S22 legal aboition pioceuuies weie peifoimeu in Colombia. The
estimate foi clanuestine aboitions is aiounu 4uu,4uu aboitions annually, which means

28
that legal aboitions iepiesent only u.u8% of the total numbei of aboitions in the countiy.
(Piaua, Singh, Remez, & villaieal, 2u11) Although it is likely that the numbei of legal
aboitions is sub-iegisteieu, uue to ueficient infoimation systems anu lack of cooiuination
between authoiities, the piopoitions neveitheless ieveal the existence of obstacles in the
access to legal aboition. Recent stuuies mention the lack of knowleuge anu infoimation
about the legal fiamewoik, anu the iequiiements foi accessing aboition, among women as
well as among the uiffeient iesponsible authoiities anu institutions as one of the main
baiiieis. 0theis incluue iesistance fiom health peisonnel, moial anu ieligious objections,
excessive anu unnecessaiy auministiative pioceuuies, anu lack of available health
seivices. (Chapaiio, uaicia, uuzmn, Rojas, & Sanuoval, 2u1S; Baln, 2u1S)
Thus, the couit iuling was the fiist step, but the ieal challenge is to make suie that what is
wiitten in legal uocuments is also mateiializeu in piactice. In this task, communication is
key to make suie that coiiect infoimation about these iights is wiuely accessible. Both the
iepiesentatives fiom Women's Link Woiluwiue anu fiom La Nesa state in theii inteiviews
that one of the main objectives of theii aieas of communication is to uisseminate
infoimation about the iights to access legal aboition in the countiy.
La Nesa, foi example, issueu a campaign in 2u1u calleu ca4,d4 0( >%4)*)H( .0 .0*).)1e (You
aie in a position to ueciue), incluuing a webpage
S2
, stieet publicity in busstops anu on
walls, anu messages in social meuia incluuing Facebook, Twittei anu Youtube
SS
. This has
been one of the main communication campaigns by Colombian civil society aimeu at
infoiming the geneial public about how to access legal aboition.
Neveitheless, all inteiviewees agiee that the space to woik pioactively in communications
with these issues, anu to move positions foiwaiu, has shiunk:
"The fiist thing is that we always have to pait fiom what the opposition is
uoing. Bow aie they attacking, how aie they moving. Alleviating anu
iestiaining theii assaults has uemanueu a lot of time anu woik of the
oiganizations. Time that coulu have been ueuicateu to woik foi example with
impacting a change of peiceptions. A change of cultuie iegaiuing these issues.
But theie is no time. All the time we have to be uefenuing ouiselves. Since
2uu6 theie has not been anything else but fighting foi the access to be ieal anu
bioau, oi uefenuing ouiselves against attacks." (Inteiview with Ana Naiia
Ruiz anu uuilleimo Cuellai, Bijula Comunicaciones)

S2
www.estasenposicionueueciuii.com (the page uoes no longei exist)
SS
viueos can be seen on La Nesa's Youtube-channel:
https:www.youtube.comuseilaNesapoilaviuaviueos

29
Although both oiganizations state that they uo not want to uebate with the chuich anu the
conseivative opposition activists, the political ciicumstances anu the agenua often foice
them to uiiect theii effoits at impeuing setbacks iathei than auvancing.
Buiing the seconu semestei of 2u11, the Conseivative Paity piesenteu a bill to Congiess
that aimeu at changing the aiticle 11 of the Colombian Constitution, auuing the text in
bolu, thus piohibiting both aboition anu euthanasia:
"The iight to life is inviolable KOI FPMM HDTDPXD DZUKM [HGRDTRPGO \HGL R]D
\DHRPMPQKRPGO UORPM R]D OKRUHKM IDKR]+ Theie will not be capital
punishment."
S4
(Congiess of Colombia, 2u11)
This was the fiist time since the couit iuling in 2uu6 that theie was a seiious attempt at
ieveising the legalization of aboition, iathei than obstiucting its implementation, anu
facing this imminent thieat, seveial oiganizations, among them La Nesa anu Women's
Link Woiluwiue, joineu effoits in tiying to impeue the situation. These actions incluueu
opinion pieces in meuia, wiitten both by membeis of the uiffeient oiganizations of the
alliance, as well as by influential meuia connections, anu lobbying with congiess
iepiesentatives. The bill was finally voteu uown in the Senate's fiist commission by 9
votes against anu 7 votes in favoi. (Congieso visible, 2u11) Although this piocess tuineu
out successfully, anu manageu to civil society as well as influential peisons in meuia anu in
politics, it was an alliance that uiu not leau to a continuous woik togethei between the
oiganizations, beyonu the immeuiate neeu foi impeuing a conciete setback.
The next thieat foi a backlash came in 2u12 with the possibility of ie-election of the
E1%*'1+.%1
;?
. In 2uu9, Alejanuio 0iuoez, iepiesenting a highly conseivative iight-wing
anu ieligious agenua, was electeu foi the office. In spite of winning votes by piomising to
iespect women's anu LuBT iights, uuiing his fiist foui-yeai teim, he iepeateuly tiieu to
iestiict access to legal aboition. Facing a piobable ie-election of 0iuoez foi a seconu
foui-yeai teim, Women's Link Woiluwiue initiateu a campaign calleu E1%*'1+
;`
" The
objective of the campaign was to seek to euucate anu monitoi the selection piocess foi the
new E1%*'1+.%1" The campaign hau a webpage
S7
, anu was caiiieu out in social meuia
S8
,

S4
Ny tianslation. Spanish oiiginal: "El ueiecho a la viua es inviolable E HDTP^PH_ PNUKM [HGRDTTPSO IDJID MK
\DTUOIKTPSO ]KJRK MK LUDHRD OKRUHKM. No habi pena ue mueite"
SS
This position uoes not have an equivalent in English, but can be ioughly tianslateu as Inspectoi ueneial, anu
is the highest iesponsible foi the guaiantee of human iights anu the vigilance anu sanctioning of public
seivants.
S6
The name of the campaign is a play on woius in Spanish, making an allusion to the name of the authoiity
(Piocuiauuiia ueneial ue la Nacion) using the veib >1%*'1+1 (make suie) in its impeiative foim.
S7
www.piocuiacolombia.com (The page no longei exists)

Su
encouiaging people to sign an open lettei uiiecteu at the Piesiuent, the Supieme Couit,
anu the Council of State, the thiee bouies iesponsible foi appointing one canuiuate each
foi the election. Fuitheimoie, people publisheu photos of themselves on Facebook anu
Twittei holuing up posteis with the woius >1%*'1+f (make suie) anu a iequest foi some
minimum qualities oi actions the nominateu canuiuates shoulu have oi take. A majoiity of
these messages weie ielateu to fieeuom of ieligion anu the sepaiation of chuich anu state,
oi to sexual anu iepiouuctive iights anu LuBT iights. The campaign ieceiveu ovei 4uuu
photos that weie compileu in a viueo
S9
that was sent togethei with the open lettei.
The stiuctuie of the Piocuia-campaign was veiy similai to that of LAICIA, in that it was a
campaign uesign anu leu by Women's Link Woiluwiue to which othei oiganizations anu
peisons coulu auheie, but it was not conceiveu in cooiuination with othei oiganizations,
noi was it pieviously consenteu with them.
Although Alejanuio 0iuoez was finally appointeu as a canuiuate by the Supieme Couit,
anu ie-electeu by congiess to seconu teim, the campaign manageu, accoiuing to its
oiganizeis to awaken an inteiest among citizens committeu to paiticipation, anu as nevei
befoie, citizens inteiveneu in the uebate to uemanu iespect foi uemociatic anu pluialist
piinciples.
4u

While both the actions in ielation to the Conseivative Paity bill, anu the Piocuia-
campaign, can be aigueu to have hau positive impacts - in the fiist case the uefeat of the
bill, anu in the seconu the incieaseu awaieness among the geneial public - it is eviuent
that a laige pait of the effoits aie ieactive iathei than pioactive, anu iesponu to an agenua
set by othei actois, now by the sexual anu iepiouuctive iights oiganizations, anu in the
teims of these othei actois.
S. 2 TBE INBIvIB0AL C0NN0NICATI0N STRATEuIES
Both oiganizations have communication among theii piioiities. In both La Nesa anu
Women's Link Woiluwiue, communication is a cioss-cutting theme to all theii activities.
Bowevei, the way communication is manageu as a stiategy uiffeis between the
oiganizations. In the case of Women's Link Woiluwiue, they uo not manage an oveiiiuing
communication stiategy, although they uo have some geneial objectives iuentifieu, such as

S8
Piincipally Facebook, Twittei, Youtube anu vimeo
S9
The viueo can be seen at: http:vimeo.com472uS4u7
4u
See the campaign page on Facebook: https:www.facebook.compagesPiocuia-Colombia (posts on
Novembei 28th, 2u12)

S1
uisseminating the woik of the oiganization; iaise awaieness thiough infoiming about the
iight to legal aboition; geneiate a favoiable public opinion, etc. Theii communication
stiategies uepenu laigely on inuiviuual piojects with specific objectives:
"Foi each pioject, we think in fiist place about whethei theie is a lot oi a little
emphasis on communications. Then, if theie is neeu to cieate a big
communications stiategy, obviously it will uepenu on what we want to
achieve, who we want to ieach, what we shoulu say. Accoiuing to the line of
woik, it is manageu accoiuing to the piojects that aiise. Theie is no geneial
iule, no foimula, because eveiything uepenus on how communications is
unueistoou as a suppoit foi the legal stiategy, the legal objective." (Inteiview
with Caiolina Bueas, Women's Link Woiluwiue)
La Nesa on the othei hanu has a geneial communication stiategy, howevei it is somewhat
outuateu as it was cieateu ovei foui yeais ago, anu both the cooiuinatoi anu the
communicatoi expiesseu in theii inteiviews the neeu foi upuating it to the cuiient
context. The way paiticulai communication activities aie uesigneu uiffeis fiom Women's
Link Woiluwiue, uue to the oiganizational stiuctuie of La Nesa
41
:
"La Nesa is a collective, anu the aiea of communications passes thiough the
consensus as all othei uecisions. In these collective uecisions, taken by the
communications committee, the hoiizon anu the messages aie uefineu. Then,
togethei with the communicatoi, we seek to uefine the best tools oi means
that woik to guaiantee that the messages aie tiansmitteu. The communicatoi
is the link between the collectively uefineu policies anu the necessity to make
it opeiative." (Inteiview with Caiolina Nelo, La Nesa poi la viua y la Saluu ue
las Nujeies)
In this context, it is impoitant to analyze how the inuiviuual stiategies aie caiiieu out in
the uiffeient oiganizations - that is what types of messages have they iuentifieu as
stiategic anu what aie the auuiences that they aie communicating them to.
S. 2. 1 TBE NESSAuES
Both Women's Link Woiluwiue anu La Nesa, have iuentifieu key messages to tiansmit in
theii communication actions. When it comes to La Nesa, the cooiuinatoi Caiolina Nelo
states that theii appioach has changeu ovei the last yeais:
"Befoie, we useu a veiy neutial, fiienuly anu polite tone. The communication
pieces that weie uesigneu hau that tone. But then we became awaie that
people aie moie toucheu by the emotional component that the antis use alot.

41
La Nesa is a collective of oiganizations anu inuiviuuals with tiajectoiies in the uefense of women's sexual
anu iepiouuctive iights. These membeis aie all volunteeis anu aie the ones that take the stiategic uecisions
foi the oiganization. Theie aie five employees, one cooiuinatoi, two lawyeis, one communicatoi anu one
auministiatoi, anu these aie iesponsible foi the opeiative activities iesulting fiom the stiategies lineu out.

S2
So then we ueciueu to go foi that." (Inteiview with Caiolina Nelo, La Nesa poi
la viua y la Saluu ue las Nujeies)
She exemplifies with two campaigns fiom La Nesa, the fiist one being the campaign
mentioneu above, a4,d4 0( >%4)*)H( .0 .0*).)1 (you aie in a position to ueciue) fiom 2u1u,
anu the seconu one being S0 +=%1,+ >%1 '(+ 1+bH( C (% >%1 U+5,+ .0 1+bH( (aboition is uone
foi a ieason, not foi lack of ieason) fiom 2u12. Both campaigns hau ioughly the same
foimat - stieet publicity, social meuia piesence, etc. - howevei, the types of messages
uiffei. Caiolina points out in the inteiview that while the fiist hau a much 'waimei' tone,
with messages ielateu to the fieeuom to ueciue, anu with an image veiy little ielateu to
the specific issue, the seconu hau a much moie uiiect anu emotional appioach, putting
faces on the issue anu showing conciete unuignifieu situations that justify legal aboition.
These two campaigns on a moie massive scale, illustiate the shift fiom one appioach to
anothei.
G&+/04 # +(. !R $+&>+)/( )&+/0 U1%& a4,d4 0( >%4)*)H( .0 .0*).)1 \50U,^ +(. %(0 %U ,60
*+&>+)/( )&+/04 U1%& S0 +=%1,+ >%1 '(+ 1+bH(B (% >%1 U+5,+ .0 1+bH( \1)/6,^

Souice: Facebook page of La Nesa poi la viua y la Saluu ue las Nujeies
Both oiganizations uefine among theii key messages the infoimation anu awaieness-
iaising of legal aboition as a iight. This incluues the uissemination of the legalization of
aboition to the geneial public, that is, making suie that people know that aboition is legal

SS
in Colombia unuei thiee ciicumstances. Fuitheimoie, it incluues infoimation about how
anu wheie to exeicise this iight, that is, the iequisites anu the pioceuuies to access a legal
aboition. In this, both oiganizations coinciue; howevei, the iepiesentatives of La Nesa
maue emphasis of the message of the absolute autonomy of women anu the iight to
motheihoou as a fiee choice. This type of ihetoiic coiiesponus to the tiauitional women's
movement uiscouises wheie the centei of the issue is women's iights to sexual anu
iepiouuctive autonomy, a ihetoiic fiom which Women's Link Woiluwiue to a ceitain
extent uistanceu themselves thiough the type of messages anu aiguments useu in LAICIA.
Although the iepiesentatives of Women's Link Woiluwiue inteivieweu foi this ieseaich
helu that the messages vaiy fiom one pioject oi campaign to anothei, as they aie uefineu
in ielation to its specific objectives, in geneial the messages useu all have a technical-legal
focus iathei than an iueological one.
These uiffeiences in messages ieflect the iueological uiffeiences between both
oiganizations. Women's Link Woiluwiue woik with a wiue iange of genuei equality
issues, but uesciibe theii woik in sexual anu iepiouuctive iights the following way on
theii webpage:
"Sexual anu iepiouuctive iights incluue the human iight of eveiy peison to
have contiol ovei anu ueciue fieely anu iesponsibly on matteis ielateu to
theii sexuality anu iepiouuction. The exeicise of these iights is unueipinneu
by the autonomy of the peison to make uecisions anu the ieal anu effective
access to sexual anu iepiouuctive health seivices necessaiy in oiuei to make
these iights effective in ieality. In accoiuance with this peispective, Women's
Link Woiluwiue takes on piojects which seek to guaiantee anu piotect the
exeicise of sexual anu iepiouuctive iights in uiffeient paits of the woilu."
(Women's Link Woiluwiue)
La Nesa poi la viua y la Saluu ue las Nujeies uesciibe themselves like this on theii
webpage:
"La Nesa poi la viua y la Saluu ue las Nujeies is a collective of oiganizations
anu peisons that fiom theii knowleuge anu expeiience woik foi the sexual
anu iepiouuctive iights of women, in paiticulai those ielateu to the fiee
option to mateinity, fiee exeicise of sexuality anu the total legalization of
aboition." (La Nesa poi la viua y la Saluu ue las Nujeies)
Women's Link Woiluwiue give a uefinition of sexual anu iepiouuctive iights in line with
inteinational institutional stanupoints anu legal ciiteiia
42
anu outline theii woik in close
association with these. La Nesa on the othei hanu takes on a feminist stance, paiting not

42
See foi example the Inteinational Confeience on Population anu Bevelopment - ICPB - Piogiamme of Action,
chaptei vII on Repiouuctive iights anu iepiouuctive health.

S4
fiom ceitain legal guaiantees anu the effective implementation of these, but iathei fiom a
tiansfoimation of the cultuial significance of women, ielateu to the social imaginaiy of
womanhoou as motheihoou, anu sexuality as a means of iepiouuction iathei than of
pleasuie foi women. Fuitheimoie, while Women's Link Woiluwiue nevei auvocate foi a
wiuei legalization of aboition, but focus only on the effective implementation of the
existing legislation, La Nesa explicitly incluues a complete legalization as theii goal.
S. 2. 2 TBE A0BIENCES
The types of messages tiansmitteu is closely ielateu to what auuiences these aie uiiecteu
to. In the case of La Nesa, they iuentify women as theii main auuience, anu Caiolina Nelo
specifies:
"Funuamentally women in iepiouuctive age of social stiatums 2, S anu 4.
4S

The ieason is that in the lowest stiatums the access to meuia is moie limiteu,
especially uigital meuia, anu that gives the ieligious positions a gieatei
influence. It is much moie uifficult to question them, they aie veiy soliu. With
social stiatums S anu 6 it is the othei way aiounu. It is a sectoi that has a lot of
access to infoimation. Anu they have a cultuial capital that peimits them to
have moie flexible oi uiffeient positions. Anu they have the economic
iesouices that makes it easiei foi them to make uecisions baseu on them. The
miuule classes aie on the boiuei between these two. Beie we can pioviue
moie tools that encouiage the capacity to tiansfoim imaginaiies." (Inteiview
with Caiolina Nelo, La Nesa poi la viua y la Saluu ue las Nujeies)
They also incluue civil seivants, paiticulaily fiom the juuiciaiy bianch, anu health
piofessionals among theii auuiences. Women's Link Woiluwiue iuentify auuiences aftei
specific mapping exeicises foi eveiy pioject oi campaign, uepenuing on the objectives,
howevei, the public opinion in geneial, incluuing women, as well as the authoiities
iesponsible foi the implementation of the juuicial uecisions, make up theii basic auuience.
When it comes to auuiences, both oiganizations expiess uifficulties in managing a
language that is accessible enough foi people without any expeitise to unueistanu,
without compiomising the neeu foi technical anu legal piecision in the infoimation:
"When possible we tiy to talk in non-legal teims, about the woik that we uo. It
is veiy common among lawyeis to talk with a lot of technical teims. So how
tianslate that into eveiyuay language that peimits any woman oi any peison
to unueistanu in an easy way what Women's Link uo. That is a challenge. It's

4S
In Colombia, all neighboihoous aie uiviueu into social stiatums between 1 anu 6, accoiuing to theii income
level. Stiatum 1 is the lowest income anu stiatum 6 the highest. The access to technologies, such as the
inteinet, is highly unequally uistiibuteu along stiatums. Accoiuing to a stuuy fiom 2u12, only S7% of the
stiatum 1-population hau access to the inteinet, while the poition of the stiatum 6-population was 89%.
(Rojas, 2u12)

SS
moie like a ciiteiia than a specific message, anu it is a challenge." (Inteiview
with Caiolina Bueas, Women's Link Woiluwiue)
The vaiiations in how the auuiences aie uefineu ieflect the uiffeiences in the piofiles of
the oiganizations' woik, but also the iueological uiffeiences mentioneu in the pievious
section. La Nesa woiks with guaianteeing the implementation of the aboition legislation
on an institutional level, thiough monitoiing anu auvocacy activities uiiecteu at
authoiities, but also on an inuiviuual level thiough legal auvice anu assistance with cases.
Women's Link Woiluwiue woiks with stiategic legal action to auvance genuei equality,
which means that they uo not attenu inuiviuual women, unless it is a case useu foi
stiategic litigation in national oi inteinational couits.
Theiefoie, the auuience of La Nesa is moie specifically oiienteu to women, as they aie the
piimaiy iights-beaieis, anu the actions of La Nesa aie ultimately aimeu at theii
empoweiment as autonomous subjects. Neanwhile, Women's Link Woiluwiue focus on
guaianteeing women's iights thiough tiansfoiming the legal panoiama. Both appioaches
aie aimeu at alteiing the oiganization of genuei ielationships by means of which powei is
aiticulateu, but wheieas La Nesa concentiates on the symbolic anu noimative elements of
these social ielationships, Women's Link Woiluwiue aie centeieu piimaiily on the
noimative anu institutional ones. Wheie they coinciue, in messages as well as in
auuiences, is in the noimative aiena, that is, iecalling the uefinition by Scott fiom chaptei
two in this uegiee pioject, the concepts that set foith inteipietations of the meanings of
the symbols attempting to limit anu contain theii metaphoiic possibilities. In this case,
when it comes to communication, thiough influencing the concepts tiansmitteu by meuia
to the public opinion, foi example linking the issue of aboition to legal issues of human
iights iathei than to ieligion anu moiale.
S. 2. S TBE INPACT
Finally, it is impoitant to take into account whethei all the actions taken have an impact oi
not. The puipose heie is not to assess the possible impact of the actions of the
oiganizations in teims of communication, but iathei to analyze what types of mechanisms,
if any, the oiganizations use to measuie theii impact, anu if these have any inciuence in
the ie-foimulation of futuie stiategies.
Both oiganizations weie askeu in the inteiviews whethei they have any establisheu
mechanisms foi measuiing impact, anu also about theii peiceptions about the impact of
theii communication actions.

S6
Theie has been no continuous systematic monitoiing in Colombia caiiieu out by any
oiganization about the meuia coveiage on aboition that peimits a histoiical compaiison
fiom the legalization until touay, although some inuiviuual effoits have been maue. Buiing
LAICIA anu the fiist yeais aftei the legalization, Women's Link Woiluwiue conuucteu
piess monitoiing togethei with Bijula Comunicaciones. The oiganization Bumanas
44

manageu a piess aichive on aboition fiom miu-2uu8 until 0ctobei 2u1u. The thesis
L=%1,)%( )( $%5%&=)+R Q0/+5 *6+(/04 +(. 4%*)+5 ,1+(4U%1&+,)%(4 (Baln, 2u11) incluues an
analysis of national piess fiom 2uu6 until 2uu9. La Nesa poi la viua y la Saluu ue las
Nujeies has conuucteu monitoiing of the piess since }anuaiy 2u1S. These uiffeient
aichives uo not use a joint selection oi classification ciiteiia, which means that they aie
not uiiectly compaiable, besiues the fact that theie is a time-gap between the enu of 2u1u
anu the beginning of 2u1S when no monitoiing was maue. It is theiefoie uifficult to
objectively assess the impact the uiffeient oiganizations have in meuia, without fiist
caiiying out the actual gatheiing of the infoimation.
When it comes to Women's Link Woiluwiue, they cuiiently monitoi theii piess ieleases
anu specific actions to assess what impact it has in the meuia, foi example whethei it
appeaieu in the piess anu how it was piesenteu. Foi specific issues monitoiing is also
maue to map the meuia language anu souices, in oiuei to elaboiate an auequate stiategy.
Accoiuing to the foimei communicatoi at Women's Link Woiluwiue, Catalina Ruiz-
Navaiio, this is not a common piactice among all oiganizations that woik on these issues:
"Foi example, at one of the consultancies that Women's Link uiu in Aigentina
on aboition, they went to uo the consultancy to seveial women's gioups. Anu
they weie 'of couise, we talk about aboition, eveiything is veiy goou,
wonueiful.'. Anu we uiu the mapping anu what we founu was that none of
these oiganizations weie even citeu in the meuia. They weien't theii souices.
|.j But many of the oiganizations that uo social woik aie not conscious of
how they appeai in the meuia, noi of how they see them." (Inteiview with
Catalina Ruiz-Navaiio, Women's Link Woiluwiue)
As mentioneu above, La Nesa has monitoieu Colombian piess since }anuaiy 2u1S, which
was when the cuiient communicatoi Ximena Cuellai assumeu the position. The piess
monitoiing aims at iuentifying tenuencies anu aiguments in favoi anu against legal
aboition, with the piincipal objective of iuentifying common elements anu thus obtaining
input foi political auvocacy. (Coiieal, 2u14)

44
Bumanas - iegional centei foi human iights anu genuei justice

S7
Accoiuing to the monitoiing of the piess in 2u1S, La Nesa was consulteu twice as a souice
in the total of 191 pieces stuuieu
4S
, in both occasions thiough one of the spokespeisons
Ana Ciistina uonzlez, in ielation to the ielease of a stuuy by uuttmachei Institute
46
.
(Coiieal, 2u14) This ieflects, besiues fiom La Nesa not being a piimaiy souice foi the
meuia on the issue in spite of the oiganizations' tiajectoiy anu vast expeiience, something
that Ximena expiesseu in the inteiview, ielateu to meuia's inteiest in numbeis anu haiu
facts iathei than iueological stances:
"What I uiu at that time was to piopose stoiies to them because we hau
numbeis. So then I thought that this is a way to appioach them with
something that we have to say that coulu be inteiesting to them. That is not a
teuious oi feminist uiscouise to them, because that is also how they can see it.
Anu at times they have tolu me 'it's a uoctiinaiie uiscouise of youi agenua', oi
'it is just foi women, wheie aie the men.'." (Inteiview with Ximena Coiieal, La
Nesa poi la viua y la Saluu ue las Nujeies)
In sum, all inteiviewees agiee that ovei the couise of what is almost a uecaue since LAICIA
was launcheu, the panoiama has changeu, gieatly thanks to stiategic effoits to make
sexual anu iepiouuctive iights, in paiticulai legal aboition, an issue on the public agenua,
tiansfoiming the teims of the uebate. Bowevei, aftei the initial, faiily well uocumenteu,
impact of LAICIA, no ieal long-teim systematic monitoiing has been maue to help
oiienting new stiategies anu map those of the opponents to be able to iesponu moie
effectively. Thus, the ieal impact of touay's communication actions is veiy uifficult to
assess accuiately.

4S
The monitoiing incluues ten online news sites: El Espectauoi, El Tiempo, Revista Semana, anu La Silla vacia
as national meuia, anu El Pais, El Colombiano, La Nacion, El Beialuo, anu El 0niveisal as iegional meuia, anu
auuitionally the newslettei fiom the E1%*'1+.'1]+ N0(01+5 .0 5+ I+*)H("
46
"The Cost of Postaboition Caie anu Legal Aboition In Colombia"
6. C0NCL0BINu C0NNENTS

S8
6 C0NCL0BI Nu C0NNENTS
In this uegiee pioject, I have examineu the question of how Colombian Nu0s communicate
sexual anu iepiouuctive iights issues to the public opinion, anu how this has changeu ovei
time. This has been analyzeu thiough a case stuuy of two Colombian oiganizations that
woik with sexual anu iepiouuctive iights, paiticulaily the implementation of legal
aboition - Women's Link Woiluwiue anu La Nesa poi la viua y la Saluu ue las Nujeies.
The analysis paits fiom a genuei peispective, unueistanuing genuei as a constitutive
element of social ielationships as well as a piimaiy way of signifying ielationships of
powei. In being a socially constiucteu, anu constiuctive, element, its tiansfoimation is
possible. In a piocess of ie-signifying the genueieu peiceptions anu oiganizations of social
stiuctuies, communication can be an impoitant tool. When it comes to aboition in a
countiy like Colombia, a legal change might imply a foimal ueciiminalization, but not
necessaiily a cultuial legalization. Effoits aie neeueu to tiansfoim the legal tools into
social piactices.
These two oiganizations, baseu in Bogot, woik with making genuei equality a ieality. In
some ways they complement each othei in that they concentiate theii effoits paitly in
uiffeient spheies. While Women's Link Woiluwiue focus on mouifying the institutional
fiamewoik that pioviues the foimal guaiantees foi the implementation of women's iights,
La Nesa centeis on empoweiing the women to uemanu access to theii iights. Both
appioaches aie necessaiy in oiuei to effectively tiansfoim the genueieu uistiibution of
powei in society.
The LAICIA campaign, oiganizeu by Women's Link Woiluwiue, anu auheieu to by many
oiganizations, among them La Nesa, is the histoiical point of uepaituie in this ieseaich. I
aigue that it iepiesents a shift in paiauigm in how communications weie manageu by civil
society oiganizations in Colombia, in paiticulai those woiking with sexual anu
iepiouuctive iights, befoie anu aftei this campaign. Touay, communications is seen as a
stiategic tool to help obtain a ceitain objective, anu mobilize public opinion suppoit,
iathei than as a way of convincing opponents to change theii positions. LAICIA also
changeu the teims of the uebate, intiouucing new paiameteis lifting out the issue fiom the
tiauitional piivate spheie - uelimiteu to a moial anu ieligious issue, anu into the public
spheie, as an issue of geneial concein foi society - not just foi inuiviuual women.
6. C0NCL0BINu C0NNENTS

S9
The political panoiama in Colombia is uiffeient touay compaieu to the time of LAICIA, anu
the conseivative opposition to sexual anu iepiouuctive iights is to some extent moie
poweiful anu ceitainly bettei oiganizeu when it comes to communications. This has leu to
the oiganizations losing some of theii heau stait gaineu thiough LAICIA. Theiefoie,
nowauays much of the communication effoits aie uiiecteu at impeuing backlashes iathei
than auvancing positions, anu communicating ieactively iathei than pioactively.
This is accentuateu by the fact that theie is little cooiuination when it comes to
communications between the oiganizations in Colombia that woik on these issues, beyonu
ciicumstantial alliances when facing conciete iisks. While it is tiue that the oiganizations
focus theii woik uiffeiently anu to some extent have ceitain iueological uiffeiences, theie
aie some eviuent conveigences between them. 0ne such is the infoimation to women anu
the geneial public about theii iights, anu to public seivants anu meuical staff about theii
uuties. Theie is no eviuent stiategic auvantage foi each oiganization to caiiy out sepaiate
infoimation woik, when theii impact coulu be much moie substantial if the effoits weie
joineu togethei, both between the two oiganizations stuuieu in this ieseaich, as well as in
a moie systematic way with oiganizations in othei iegions of the countiy.
Anothei aiea wheie it coulu have moie effect to woik togethei is the time-consuming task
of monitoiing. It shoulu be in the inteiest of both oiganizations to iegulaily anu unifoimly
monitoi these issues in meuia, in oiuei to evaluate the effoits caiiieu out, anu plan futuie
activities. As meuia monitoiing uemanus consiueiable amount of time anu effoit, but is a
key stiategic input, it coulu be beneficial foi all to uefine some common ciiteiia anu
establish a common uatabase anu then foi example uiviue the meuia souices between the
oiganizations, incluuing oiganizations fiom othei iegions monitoiing local meuia.
While the legalization of aboition in Colombia has been the subject of stuuy to quite some
acauemic piouuction - in paiticulai on the stiategies foi achieving the legalization anu the
obstacles in its piactical implementation - theie is veiy little, if anything, wiitten about the
public opinion on the issue. Spoiauically, some newspapeis publish opinion polls, but the
only existing laige-scale stuuy is the I+,)%(+5 S'190C %U [0&%/1+>6C +(. M0+5,6
(Piofamilia, 2u11), iepiesentative foi Colombian women ages 1S to 49 anu publisheu
eveiy five yeais. In its 2u1u issue it incluueu questions about knowleuge anu opinion
about legal aboition. Bowevei, it woulu be woithwhile stuuying in moie uetail how these
issues aie peiceiveu by the geneial public - not only foi acauemic puiposes, but also in
oiuei foi the oiganizations to cieate moie piecise communication stiategies.
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Woiluwiue: http:www.womenslinkwoiluwiue.oigwlwnew.php.mouo=tiabajo
Women's Link Woiluwiue. (2uu7). La libeializacion uel aboito en Colombia. 3%550,% )(U%1&+,)9% Io
! h K+C% . uespenalizacion.oig.ai.
Zamuuio, L., Rubiano, N., & Waitenbeig, L. (1999). El aboito inuuciuo en Colombia: Caiacteiisticas
uemogificas y sociocultuiales. In C. u. (CIBS), a5 +=%1,% )(.'*).% 0( $%5%&=)+ (pp. 1S-1S8).
Bogot: CIBS 0niveisiuau Exteinauo ue Colombia.

APPENBIX

4S
APPENBI X: INTERvI EW u0I BE
YG(,1%.'*,)%( %U &0 +(. ,60 1040+1*6 >1%g0*," L4W)(/ >01&)44)%( ,% 10*%1. ,60 )(,019)0: +(.
*),0 :),6 (+&0Z
1. Can you tell me a little bit about |the oiganizationj anu how you woik.
a. What kinu of woik uoes the oiganization uo in ielation to
communications.
b. Bow impoitant is the woik in communications compaieu to the othei
woik that the oiganization uoes.
c. Bow aie the uecisions maue about the woik iegaiuing communications.
2. Can you tell me a little bit about youi iole in the oiganization anu what you uo in
ielation to communications.
a. Bow much influence uo you have in the uecisions that aie maue iegaiuing
communications.
S. Boes the oiganization have a communication stiategy.
a. If yes - coulu you tell me about it.
b. If no - why not.
4. Bo you have iuentifieu auuiences foi youi communication anu messages.
S. Bo you have uefineu messages.
a. What type of messages uo you tiansmit.
b. Aie theie any messages that you uo not want to tiansmit.
6. Bow uo you assess the level of success of youi woik in communications. Bo you
have any mechanisms foi measuiing impact.
7. Bo you woik togethei in communications with any othei oiganizations that woik
with these issues.
8. What aie the main pioblems that you encountei in communicating these issues to
the public opinion. Bow uo you auuiess these pioblems.
9. Bow uo you see the futuie foi these issues anu what aie youi aspiiations.

Communicating Abortion

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