  The push to disconnect motherhood from womanhood set the stage for a separation between the reproductive capacities of women’s bodies and their sexual health (Gargallo 2004: 114). Claims to the decriminalization of abortion emerged under access to reproductive rights that sought to give women control over their own bodies. Thus, the right to abort was defended on the grounds of a woman’s right to individual autonomy (Gargallo 2004: 114). In 1976, El Movimiento Nacional de Mujeres, along with other autonomous feminist groups, organized one of the first congresses on the decriminalization of abortion that maintained the interruption of pregnancy as a woman’s decision that should be made accessible through all institutions of public health (Gargallo 2004: 114). In the years that followed, feminists in Mexico used a variety of symbolic strategies in their fight for the legalization of abortion. They dressed in black to publicly mourn the women who had died as a result of clandestine abortions (Garagallo 2004: 115). Today, abortion remains tiered in access throughout Latin America. Countries such as Chile, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, and El Salvador prohibit abortion entirely, even under conditions where it would save a woman’s life. In countries like Mexico, Guatemala, Panamá, and Venezuela abortion is legal only under conditions where it saves the life of the woman. However, in countries like Argentina, Costa Rica, and Ecuador abortion is legal to the extent that it preserves the physical health of the woman. In some countries, conditions of rape are understood as part of the preservation of physical health (e.g., Argentina), while in others, the extension is made to allow abortion to the extent that it preserves the mental health of the woman (e.g., Colombia). Cuba, Uruguay, and Puerto Rico are places that have legalized abortion without any restrictions that would require some particular reason. Although the battle for access to abortion began during the 1970s, it continues to be a contested political issue especially in places where access is entirely denied or restricted by other factors: physical health, mental health, or life preservation.  Moreover, in places like Puerto Rico, the question of abortion is intricately bound up with histories of forced sterilization, making the issue more politically charged and complex.