'Women Are Not in the Best Position to Make These Decisions by Themselves': Gender Stereotypes in the Uruguayan Abortion Law

This article evaluates the impact of gendered stereotypes on abortion reform in Uruguay, determining whether the country’s relatively liberal abortion law further undermines international human rights efforts to suppress harmful stereotypes against women. The author first examines Uruguay’s widely praised legal regime regulating abortion access, situating it as the first of its kind in Latin America. In the following two sections, the author demonstrates Uruguay’s continuing legal obligation to resist damaging stereotypes and critically assesses the country’s parliamentary debates on decriminalization of abortion with relation to the portrayal of women seeking abortion. They argue that while Uruguayan abortion law seemingly upholds liberal values of women’s reproductive freedom, it rests firmly on patriarchal attitudes of the societal role of women.