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Paper short abstract

Abortion activists in Peru enact decolonial practices of community care based in the Quechua cosmology of aynikawsay, or everyday reciprocity. In communicating their lived experiences they work to normalise abortion as healthcare which can be facilitated beyond the limitations of state institutions.

Paper long abstract

Abortion activists in Peru enact the Quechua community value of ayni, or reciprocity, as part of their daily lives. Their engagement with ancestral indigenous practices is no mistake, rather, it is evidence of a purposefully decolonial approach to reproductive justice influenced by a regional history of repeated reproductive violence by the state. Peruvian abortion activists consider the significant impact of institutional discrimination such as racism and classism on the accessibility of safe reproductive healthcare. Their intersectional approach challenges the status quo which perpetuates hierarchies of who deserves abortion access based on age, class, race, circumstance and vitally, political affiliation. Through the incorporation of several creative and informative modes of storytelling, abortion activists continue to jeopardise their own personal safety for the wellbeing of their community on a daily basis. From artwork and public performances of song and dance to radio programmes, podcasts and zines, abortion activists in Peru communicate lived experience of gender-based violence. These practices are influenced by indigenous and ancestral creative practices and accommodate present-day cultural accessibility obstacles. In doing so they assert their commitment to serve community members who face these injustices and dedicate their own vulnerability to a safer future for all. Ayni (reciprocity) indicates a cyclical relational dynamic of community mutual care. It is in this decolonial practice of care as one which is continuously exchanged in small daily iterations that the Quechua cosmology of aynikawsay, or everyday reciprocity, becomes an apparent strategy for the normalisation of abortion as healthcare beyond the limitations state institutions.