Between the expansion of rights and compensation: symbolic uses of the “Ley 1000 días” [“Thousand Days Law”] in the context of abortion legalization in Argentina (2020-2023)

Abstract

The article deals with the Ley 27.611 de Atención y Cuidado Integral de la Salud durante el Embarazo y la Primera Infancia[law for comprehensive healthcare during pregnancy and early infancy], called “Thousand Days Program”, in the context of the legalization of voluntary pregnancy termination in Argentina. This law is perceived as a compensatory symbolic device vis à visthe expansion of reproductive rights, considering its regulatory design and the context of the adoption of the law, the uses of the signifier “thousand days” and the attempt at reformation promoted in 2023 by the rightwing government. The methodological approach is qualitative, based on documentary and interpretive analysis. In the aftermath, even though this law is compatible with abortion legalization and articulates care policies for pregnancy and first infancy within the framework of human rights, the persistence of the signifier “thousand days” functions as a symbolic feature that enables conservative interpretations and displaces the key axis from autonomy towards vulnerability. In short, the “Thousand Days Program” operated as a compensatory symbolic device vis à vis the legalization of abortion rights and its ambivalence was demonstrated when the political scene changed, as it revealed the limits of State institutionalization of feminist agendas and the persistence of traditional heteropatriarchal ideas.