Assistant Professor Celina Doria recently hosted two acompañantes from Mexico, Bianca Acuña Valverde and Perla Martinez Reynoso. Acompañantes are feminist abortion activists who support pregnant people having medication abortions outside of clinical settings. While in town, the acompañantes gave a guest lecture in Dr. Doria’s Reproductive Justice course, met with members of a Latina-led doula organization, Roots4Change, and participated in a reproductive justice event at Goodman Community Center. 

Speakers at the event included the two acompañantes and two local abortion doulas based in Madison, Dr. Caro Cruys from the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work and Ashley Hartman Annis, a full spectrum doula, somatic practitioner, and zine maker. As Dr. Doria described, having speakers from both communities allowed the conversation to focus on both the similarities and differences between the types of care they provide. The acompañantes shared that being in this space, “reminded us that the fight for abortion knows no borders…To listen, converse, and share experiences across territories strengthens our strategies, amplifies our voices, and allows us to construct networks of collective resistance… We will continue to weave alliances, share knowledge, and sustain our conviction that the right to freely decide should be a human right, accessible to everyone.”

In addition to the talks, the evening featured free food and community engagement. As Dr. Doria stated, “It was an incredible opportunity for us in the United States to hear directly from these activists who have long engaged in resistance to state violence. As we currently face ongoing threats to reproductive justice in the United States, these acompañantes show us another path forward.” This event stemmed from a long-standing research relationship that Dr. Doria developed with acompañantes in Mexico in 2022. This relationship began a few weeks after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned Roe v. Wade in the United States and a year after Mexico’s Supreme Court voted to decriminalize abortion at the federal level. Dr. Doria traveled to Mexico to do field work to explore how abortion activists in Mexico were navigating the changing legal landscape. This resulted in building relationships with acompañantes, with whom Dr. Doria stayed in touch over the years. Dr. Doria stated the event required a great deal of collaboration and was made possible by generous support from the Maureen Pelton Hartwell Fund for Women’s Rights. 

Dr. Doria said that she is currently working on writing an op-ed with the acompañantes about The Green Wave (Marea Verde), a feminist, grassroots movement advocating for reproductive rights in Latin America, and what the United States can learn from it four years after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.