Three decades ago, in a small Argentinian beach city, thousands of women’s rights activists met and launched what would become the International Safe Abortion Day – now marked each year around the world on 28 September.
They also learned, from Brazilian activists, about misoprostol – a drug that had been used to treat gastric ulcers, which was also effective and safe for terminating pregnancies (usually taken in combination with another drug, mifepristone).
“It was amazing,” recalls Chilean surgeon Marisa Matamala, now 81, of this knowledge – which spread from Brazil by word of mouth before these drugs became used in places around the world for medical (as opposed to surgical) abortions.
