What Happened to Belen : The Unjust Imprisonment That Sparked a Women's Rights Movement

"There are many women like Bel�n whose names we don't know, but whose stories are just as important. An uplifting chronicle of one woman's fight for justice."-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)Foreword by Margaret AtwoodThe heartbreaking true story of an Argentinian woman imprisoned for having a miscarriage-an injustice that galvanized a feminist movement and became a global rallying cry in the fight for reproductive rights. In 2014, Bel�n, a twenty-five-year-old woman living in rural Argentina, went to the hospital for a stomachache-and soon found herself in prison. While at the hospital she had a miscarriage-without knowing she was pregnant. Because of the nation's repressive laws surrounding abortion and reproductive rights, the doctors were forced to report her to the authorities. Despite her protestations, Bel�n was convicted and sentenced to two years for homicide. Bel�n's imprisonment is a glaring example of how women's health care has become increasingly criminalized, putting the most vulnerable-BIPOC, rural, and low-income-women at greater risk of prosecution. Bel�n's cause became the centerpiece of a movement to achieve greater protections for all women. After two failed attempts to clear her name, Bel�n met feminist lawyer Soledad Deza, who quickly rallied Amnesty International and ignited an international feminist movement around #niunamas-not one more-symbolized by thousands of demonstrators around the globe donning white masks, the same kind of mask Bel�n wore when leaving prison. The #niunamas movement was instrumental in pressuring Argentine president Alberto Fern�ndez to decriminalize abortion in 2021.�In this gripping and personal account of the case and its impact on local law, Ana Correa, one of Argentina's leading journalists and activists, makes clear that what happened to Bel�n could happen to any woman-and that we all have the power to raise our collective voices and demand change. Translated by Julia Sanches