What Happened to Belén: The Unjust Imprisonment That Sparked a Women’s Rights Movement

Journalist Correa debuts with the harrowing story of an Argentinian woman imprisoned in 2014 after a miscarriage (she was falsely accused of inducing an abortion), whose ordeal ignited a movement to legalize abortion in Argentina. Correa’s account is based on in-depth interviews with the woman, known by the pseudonym Belén, and with Belén’s lawyer, Soledad Deza, who became aware of Belén’s ordeal two years into her imprisonment. Shocked to learn a woman was actually imprisoned for abortion—in Argentina, abortion was technically illegal, but an underground abortion network had long been tolerated—Deza publicized the case, getting many local and international rights organizations involved. The story captured headlines and prompted a surge of feminist sentiment and activism. Belén was exonerated in 2016, and abortion was legalized in Argentina in 2020. Briskly narrated in Sanches’s snappy translation, Correa’s broader political narrative rests heavily on intimate character studies of Deza, who’s depicted as an indomitable champion of women (“Soledad doesn’t sleep. She sweeps the city for evidence and contacts. She files claims”), and Belén, whose trauma is hauntingly explored (“Hours pass and night falls again at the women’s correctional facility. This is when Belén usually loses hope”). It’s a poignant and inspiring account of women organizing on behalf of women. (Sept.)