Three Lessons the U.S. Reproductive Rights Movement Can Learn from Latin America’s Green Wave

five women wearing green clothing and accessories are gathered with one speaking into a bullhorn
Dee Dwyer Courtesy of National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice

This reporting was produced with the support of the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) as part of its Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice in the Americas Initiative.

As discussed in part one of this series, the political landscape for abortion access has taken a serious turn for the worse in the U.S. in recent years. Building off of years of legislative and legal losses (and just a few wins here and there), abortion access is now only a reality for those who can afford to travel to a state where it is legal in the U.S.


While these changes impact everyone in the U.S. who needs abortion care, Latinas in particular, are more likely to be impacted because of geography. According to the National Partnership for Women & Families, as of November 2022, “nearly 6.5 million Latinas – 42 percent of all Latinas ages 15-49 – live in the 26 states that have banned or are likely to ban abortion. They represent the largest group of women of color impacted by current or likely state bans.”

With so many people impacted by the current state of affairs, advocates are looking more closely at the strategies that have produced historic wins for abortion access in Latin American countries like Colombia, Argentina, and Mexico in recent years. Based on conversations with Latina activists across borders working on this issue, here are three lessons the reproductive rights movement in the U.S. could learn from the Green Wave.

The U.S. needs many different regional strategies

One theme that came up in a number of interviews was the fact that the U.S., while under one national government, has very distinct political and cultural environments. A better approach may be to mirror how the Green Wave has worked across countries in Latin America–share strategies but allow regions to guide their own directions.

“How is it possible that something that works in New York will work in Alabama?” asks Paula Avila Guillen, executive director of the Women’s Equality Center (WEC). “It is not even logical to think that. Something that works in El Salvador doesn't work in Mexico doesn't work in Colombia, doesn't work in Argentina. There might be similarities in the strategy, but the tactical level has to be different.”

This learning comes from mistakes that were made when organizing in Latin America, says Guillen. “For many years, we tried to do the same in Latin America, treat Latin America as if we were one. Because we couldn't make progress at the country level, we put all our efforts at the international levels. And for years, our main goal was to get legal precedents from those [international human rights] bodies. We needed to get a very big written advancement. Then our goal was to bring it back to the ground. But that assumes that everybody across Latin America will react the same to a decision that comes from an international body.”

Instead, progress came when groups within specific countries worked to tailor their strategy to the local and regional political context.

To be clear, there have always been repro groups working at the state and local levels in the U.S. But a huge percentage the resources have been directed towards the big national, mostly white-led groups who guide policy strategies and also influence messaging, in addition to directing federal strategy.

Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, now a state assemblymember representing Queens, New York, used to run the only national organization focused on the Latina community–the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice. They are an organization that has dedicated presence and organizing in four states. “When I left Latina Institute in 2020, [our budget was] about $6.3 million. It paled in comparison to organizations that were white-led, that were legal serving, that were rights-based, that didn't have a justice analysis and didn't do as much intersectional organizing. That was the work we were doing on a shoestring budget. And it was very successful, but the scale was just not enough.”

Reclaim the moral high ground

Despite an alleged commitment to the separation of church and state in the U.S. constitution, the political debate about abortion has been subject to major influence from religious entities and a broader conversation about morality. It’s hard to argue that those in support of abortion access have won those arguments. “I feel like the opposition just really took over messaging and really claimed the moral high ground,” says Ena Suseth Valladares, director of programs for California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ). She participated in a convening in February of this year, organized by the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice (NLIRJ,) WEC and Ipas, that brought together advocates from Latin America with advocates from the U.S.

Valladares recalls hearing from a Mexican advocate on a panel about storytelling. “They were like, we reclaim the moral high ground. For us, abortion is a moral choice, right? And in some ways, you're violating our religious freedom by not allowing us to decide if we want to terminate a pregnancy. That's a whole different way of talking about this issue.”

“One of the things I find fascinating and most successful about the green wave is how we forced them to change their speech,” shares Guillen. “[The opposition] owned life for a very long time. They owned family for a very long time. And I don't think that anyone, regardless of your beliefs, will tell you that we as a society shouldn’t try to preserve family, or life. So they took it from us, right? And we let them take it.”

These lessons about morality are particularly impactful coming from extremely religious contexts, and where the Catholic church still has a lot of influence politically and socially. In Argentina, faith was also central to their successful campaign to legalize abortion. “80% of us consider ourselves Catholic,” says Giselle Carino, director/chief executive officer of Fòs Feminista, an international alliance for sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice. “So our faith was central to advancing our commitment to social justice, to avoiding suffering and to ensure that women can decide their future.”

“In Argentina, we start talking about women dying,” explains Guillen. “[The opposition was] forced to change and say ‘save the two lives.’ Talking about the life of the mother and the life of the fetus. We have not been afraid of using life.”

“It was claiming the very things that the anti-abortion people here claim, and they were winning that argument,” says Valladares about the Green Wave messaging. “It makes sense to me when you're talking to other people who hold their religious values really close to their heart, and you're hearing someone else who also does, you can relate to them.”

Adopt consistent visual branding like the green bandana

“So one of the first steps and it sounds simple, but it's extremely powerful, was the use of the panuelo, (bandana)” says Guillen about the success of the Green Wave. “Why? Because a lot of the lack of cooperation comes from structures set up by donors. We are fighting for funding, who takes the credit, or which logos go into the event, right? Like how many conversations have we had about logos in our work? And the beauty about the panuelo is that anybody can print anything in the panuelo and anyone can write anything in the panuelo, but we are all united.”

Guillen also likes the bandanas because they don’t require institutional support or buy in. ”It also transformed the issue from being a completely institutional one to a street one. You don't need to belong to an organization–everybody can have a panuelo.”

Groups in the U.S. are already starting to adopt the green bandana and other elements of the Latin American movement. NLIRJ recently put up billboards across Virginia with a green background similar to the Green Wave colors, and on a recent call about the Green Wave movement, the organizers wore green bandanas and talked about their collections from all over the world. Previously green had not been part of their organizational color palette.

The bandanas have also been showing up at marches across the U.S. “When I saw that for the first time in one of the marches in New York, my heart was melting,” says Carino. “I was so excited about that symbol of shared solidarity and shared existence. And then I saw it in Texas and in other in much more difficult places, and that gives me a lot of hope for the future. Green is the color of hope for us.”

This Viral Video Game Is Changing the Face of Voter Outreach

In 2024, voting campaigns have evolved greatly, to say the least. Creativity is now the name of the game and tongue-in-cheek humor is expertly leveraged to drive action. One example of that is Bop the Bigot, a revival of a viral game created in 2016 by Bazta Arpaio, an Arizona activist group, as part of a campaign to unseat Maricopa County’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio lost his re-election to Paul Penzone that year.

The game has now been updated for the current election cycle and relaunched by On Point Studios, with new features added to enable players to find out what’s on their ballot, confirm voter status, and register to vote.

Much like its former 2016 version, the game allows users to take out their political frustrations by virtually “bopping” GOP candidates in the head. It’s very similar to whack-a-mole, except the mole is replaced by former President Donald Trump, Ohio’s Senator J. D. Vance, and Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation, which is spearheading Project 2025.

cartoon renditions of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance around a Bop the Bigot logoPromotional image provided by On Point Studios.

B. Loewe, Director of On Point Studios, came up with the concept for this game when working as the Communications Director at Bazta Arpaio in 2016, and is the executive producer of this revamped version. In the first version of the game, Bop the Bigot players used a chancla (flip flop) to “bop” the characters, tapping into Latino culture by leaning on the childhood experience of being set right by a flying chancla from a fed-up mother or grandmother.

This year, the chancla is replaced by a more current element, a green coconut, referencing Kamala Harris’ coconut tree meme. There are also side characters like “the couch,” cat ladies, and more coconuts. All references to jokes about Vice-Presidential candidate Vance, or insults Vance has made about women on the campaign trail.

Another new addition is that Harris’ laugh is immortalized as the game-over sound effect, an unexpected detail that adds even more humor and levity to the game.

cartoon renditions of Donald Trump, Kevin Roberts, and J.D. Vance around a Bop the Bigot logoPromotional image provided by On Point Studios.

Bop the Bigot, which is playable on desktop and mobile, is intended not just as a way to vent political frustrations, but also as a tool for activism and securing voter engagement.

For example, the game supports the work of Mexican Neidi Dominguez Zamorano, Founding Executive Director of the non-profit organization Organized Power in Numbers by using the “game over” screen to prompt players to donate to it and support their efforts.

Organized Power in Numbers is focused on empowering workers in the South and Southwest of the U.S. through collective action and comprehensive campaigns. Their mission is to create a large-scale movement that challenges the status quo and advocates for workers' rights, and racial and economic justice.

Currently, Dominguez Zamorano is leading worker outreach to 2 million working-class voters in the South and Southwest through doorknocking, texting, and calls with the help of local groups in North Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico, and more.

“We have been blown away by the enthusiastic reception for the video game. We knew we wanted to be part of its creative approach because our movement needs more fun and laughter. We need more ways to connect with nuestra gente so we can feel joy among all the absurdity we witness every day,” Dominguez Zamorano shared with Luz Media via email.

“Our people are gente trabajadora and we deserve to feel uplifted even in our toughest moments. We are deeply involved in the South and Southwest so we know what’s at stake in this election and we’re happy this can be a resource to mobilize, raise spirits, and get out the vote," she concluded.

Dominguez Zamorano is a committed activist for immigrants and workers' rights, known for her strategist skills and expertise. She played a key role in the campaign to win DACA and has also held roles in major campaigns, including as Deputy National States Director for Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign. In addition to her work with Organized Power in Numbers, Dominguez Zamorano is serving as a Senior Advisor to Mijente’s Fuera Trump Initiative.

Grassroots efforts like these have taken on new life in 2024, with Bop the Bigot adding to the larger, ongoing fight against political apathy and disinformation. Just as it did during the 2016 race, the video game uses humor to soften the serious task at hand—getting people to the polls.

"We want the game to be a fun and comical outlet for anyone who’s been insulted, frustrated, or harmed by Trump in the past and everyone who is ready to move forward as a country after election day," explained Loewe in a press release. "The proposals in Project 2025 and the beliefs of Trump and Vance aren’t just weird, they’re truly harmful. We wanted to give people a humorous and peaceful way to smack down their racism and sexism. We hope it makes people laugh and also feel empowered and motivated to get to the polls on or before election day."

With a mix of satire, sharp political critique, and nostalgia, the game is a call to action. The upcoming election, which is getting closer by the minute, has sparked fierce activism and creative yet grounded initiatives like these aim to ensure voters are engaged, especially young Latinos and disenfranchised groups.

hands holding up yellow protest signs that say Hands Off Our Bodies
Photo Credit: Gayatri Malhotra via Unsplash

Originally published in Common Dreams. Reprinted with permission.

The Latino electorate will prove decisive in securing reproductive freedom and abortion access through ballot measures around the country, particularly in states where Latinos are a significant portion of the electorate.

In November, abortion rights measures will appear on ballots across ten states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, and New York, where Latinos make up a significant portion of the electorate. For decades, pundits and politicians have recycled long-held misconceptions about Latino voters and abortion access, citing our conservative and religious beliefs.

Anti-abortion extremists have long fueled these misconceptions through misinformation and disinformation campaigns targeting Latino communities with egregious lies and inflammatory rhetoric about abortion. Yet, polling, focus groups, and direct interactions with Latino communities have debunked these outdated tropes.

The Latino electorate will prove decisive in securing reproductive freedom and abortion access through ballot measures around the country, particularly in states where Latinos are a significant portion of the electorate.

For Latinos, the freedom to decide, a pillar of our American democracy, is critical. Meanwhile, Latinos are being hit directly with anti-abortion efforts that take away that freedom such as the six-week abortion ban put into effect by the Florida Supreme Court and the 1864 abortion ban upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, people of color and Latinas have felt the impact of a lack of abortion access, an element of basic healthcare.

A 2023 report by the National Partnership for Women and Families estimated that nearly 6.5 million Latinas, or 42% of all Latinas of reproductive age in the country, live in a state that either had or was likely to ban abortion. Ironically, it will be abortion access and anti-choice efforts to restrict freedom of choice that will mobilize Latino voters this election.

In a poll conducted by three national reproductive justice organizations, 87% of Latinas named abortion and women’s rights as one of their top priorities as they head to the polls. Another battleground poll conducted by Somos PAC and BSP Research found that 61% of Latino registered voters expressed a more positive/favorable view of Kamala Harris after hearing that she will protect abortion rights, versus only 19% of Latinos who said they had a more negative view of Harris after hearing that.

In key states to secure the White House and both chambers, Latinos make up large chunks of the electorate: Arizona (25%), Colorado (15%), Florida (20%), Nevada (20%), and New York (12%). In the face of unprecedented attacks on basic healthcare access and targeted attempts by extremists to mislead and divide our community on this issue, this November Latinos will be key deciders on abortion access across the country.

Mari Urbina, Managing Director of Indivisible, Battleground Arizona Lead and former Harry Reid advisor.

Héctor Sánchez Barba is president and CEO of Mi Familia Vota (MFV).