In 2016, Victoria Donda encountered a case that would become a pivotal moment in Argentina’s fight for abortion rights. While traveling in Tucumán, one of the country’s poorest provinces, she learned of a young woman, known by the pseudonym Belén, who was serving an eight-year prison sentence for homicide following what was believed to be a miscarriage. Recognizing that the plight of a poor woman from a marginalized region would likely go unnoticed, Donda facilitated a visit by the United Nations special rapporteur on torture. After hearing Belén’s story, the rapporteur publicly condemned Argentina’s treatment of the case before the national Congress in May 2016, igniting widespread media attention. Belén was released in August 2016 and ultimately acquitted in March 2017. Donda said the case exposed the stark inequities surrounding abortion in Argentina, highlighting that while wealthier women could access safe procedures, poorer women faced imprisonment or even death.
Following this, Argentina’s growing feminist movement intensified its focus on reproductive rights. In early 2018, under President Mauricio Macri, Congress debated abortion legality for the first time in the nation’s history. On March 6, 2018, Donda was among four deputies who sponsored a bill to legalize abortion up to 14 weeks of pregnancy. The proposal met resistance, with opponents framing abortion as “the real forced disappearance of people,” drawing parallels to Argentina’s dark past of state-forced disappearances during its dictatorship era. Critics of the bill accused progressives of undermining the country’s human rights legacy. During the debates, Donda found resonance in Margaret Atwood’s novel *The Handmaid’s Tale*, which explores themes of reproductive control and authoritarianism. Reflecting on the book, Donda linked the struggle to her own family’s history, recalling how her mother had been incarcerated without choice.
On June 13, 2018, the Chamber of Deputies passed the bill with narrow support, buoyed by large public demonstrations, including a million-strong women’s march. Donda addressed the chamber, questioning the country’s “authoritarian gene” for criminalizing abortion and recalling the physical and psychological trauma endured by women under enforced childbirth. Despite the initial legislative victory, the Senate rejected the bill two months later.
Argentina’s abortion laws changed when, on December 30, 2020, Congress approved legislation permitting abortion up to 14 weeks. However, the issue remains politically contested. In November 2023, Javier Milei, an outspoken economist known for his denial of the dictatorship’s atrocities and his promise to repeal the abortion law, was elected president.
In early 2024, Donda was present as a Buenos Aires court sentenced her uncle, Adolfo Donda, to 15 years in prison for his involvement in her abduction and for concealing her true identity. The court described the conditions of her birth as “dehumanised childbirth,” a terminology newly applied in Argentina’s stolen-baby cases. While Donda has not forgiven her uncle, she has forgiven Juan Antonio Azic, the man who raised her after her abduction and who she acknowledges as her “appropriator.” Azic’s conviction for kidnapping her was confirmed in 2015 following a DNA test initiated by Donda. She continues to visit him, now under house arrest, reflecting the complexity of her personal journey amid Argentina’s broader reckoning with its past.
Donda’s advocacy and resilience continue to be emblematic of Argentina’s evolving struggle for women’s reproductive rights and justice for the descendants of the disappeared.