Feminists and Catholics : Perspectives on the Abortion Debate in Bolivia

Sammanfattning: This thesis is analysing the abortion debate in Bolivia and questions a supposed contradiction of being simultaneouslyfeminist and Catholicregarding opinions on abortion. By analysing texts from three important actors in the abortion debate in Bolivia, the studyshows on what arguments and discourses that are used within the debate, as well asconsideringthe interesting role of Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir (CDD -Catholics for the Right to Decide),that isa feminist organisation fighting for a complete decriminalisation of abortion in Bolivia, but are also Catholics. The two other actors analysed are Colectivo Rebeldía as a representative of the feminist movement, and the Catholic Church asthe greatest abortion opponent. The thesis has a feminist perspective and use a critical discourse analysis in orderto provide different perspectives on the abortion debate in Bolivia. The results indicate that the rights discourse is frequently used by all three actors, although promoting different rights.Whereas the Church promotes the foetus’ right to life, the twofeminist organisations speak of rights in terms of a woman’s right to decide.The Church is using a conservative traditional language and aims to maintain status quo, whereas the feminist organisations use a variety of discourses with the objective of social transformation. Moreover, the fact that the organisation CDD is both feminist and Catholic, might not seem that contradictive when explainedwith the help of feminist theology.