{{Short description|Symbol of the abortion-rights movements}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}} {{For|the 1954 film|The Green Scarf{{!}}''The Green Scarf''}} [[File:El_Pañuelo_verde,_símbolo_de_la_campaña_por_el_aborto_legal_en_Argentina.jpg|thumb|The original green scarf with the legend, "Sex education to decide, contraceptives to avoid abortion, legal abortion to avoid death".]]
The '''green scarf''' ({{langx|es|pañuelo verde|links=no}}) is a symbol of the abortion-rights movements, created in Argentina in 2003 and popularized since 2018 throughout Latin America and then in the United States in 2022. It is inspired by the white scarves worn by the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.
==Origins== The green scarf, as a symbol, was born in 2003 during the XVIII National Meeting of Women in Rosario, Argentina.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=2022-05-13 |title=Pourquoi le vert est-il la couleur de la lutte pour le droit à l'avortement ? |language=fr |work=Le Monde.fr |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2022/05/13/pourquoi-le-vert-est-il-la-couleur-de-la-lutte-pour-le-droit-a-l-avortement_6126034_3210.html |access-date=2022-05-23}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=2022-05-14 |title=Why is green the color of the fight for abortion rights? |work=Le Monde.fr |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2022/05/14/why-is-green-the-color-of-the-fight-for-abortion-rights_5983496_4.html |access-date=2022-05-23}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2016-09-25 |title=Encuentro Nacional de Mujeres en Rosario - 2003: Plan de lucha nacional por el derecho al aborto |url=https://diariofemenino.com.ar/df/encuentro-nacional-de-mujeres-en-rosario-2003 |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=Diario Digital Femenino |language=es}}</ref> For the first time, the right to abortion was one of the main demands<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> and green scarves were used during the closing march.<ref name=":2" />
Two years later, in 2005, the National Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe and Free Abortion was born, and the green scarf was adopted to represent the movement.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=CNN Chile |title=La historia detrás del pañuelo verde, el nuevo símbolo feminista que llegó a Chile |url=https://www.cnnchile.com/tendencias/la-historia-detras-del-panuelo-verde-el-nuevo-simbolo-feminista-que-llego-a-chile_20180723 |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=CNN Chile |language=es}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> It was used for years by the activists who marched, in spite of the indifference of the population and the media.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
The green scarf is also a reference to the white scarves worn by the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.{{context inline|date=August 2022}}<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Solá-Santiago |first=Frances |title=How The Green Scarf Became A Symbol In The Fight For Reproductive Rights |url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2022/05/10983662/green-scarf-meaning-roe-v-wade-protests |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=www.refinery29.com}}</ref> The color green was chosen because it represents hope and because it was not associated with any social or political movement in Argentina.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=2020-02-27 |title=El pañuelo verde: su significado y su historia |url=https://www.vogue.mx/estilo-de-vida/articulo/panuelo-verde-feminista-que-significa-y-cual-es-su-origen |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=Vogue |language=es}}</ref> According to one of the participants of the XVIII National Meeting of Women, there was also a pragmatic reason: they wanted to distribute scarves but they did not find enough purple fabric, the color of feminism, however there was enough green available.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=¿Por qué un pañuelo verde es el símbolo del aborto legal? |url=http://www.laizquierdadiario.com/Por-que-un-panuelo-verde-es-el-simbolo-del-aborto-legal |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=La Izquierda Diario - Red internacional |language=es}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Carolina Muzi |date=2018-05-08 |title=La historia del pañuelo verde: cómo surgió el emblema del nuevo feminismo en Argentina |url=https://www.infobae.com/cultura/2018/08/05/la-historia-del-panuelo-verde-como-surgio-el-emblema-del-nuevo-feminismo-en-argentina |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=infobae |language=es}}</ref>
The green tone used is located between 347 C and 3415 C by Pantone.<ref name=":5" /> Until 2018, in textile stores in Buenos Aires, it was known as "green Benetton".<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":5" /> Then it changed to be known as "legal abortion green".<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":5" />
The green scarf bears the legend "Sex education to decide, contraceptives to avoid abortion, legal abortion to avoid death".<ref name=":3" />
==Popularization== [[File:Pañuelazo por el derecho al aborto legal, seguro y gratuito - Agustina Girardo 3.jpg|thumb|{{lang|es|Pañuelazo}} for the right to legal, safe and free abortion in Santa Fe, 2018]]
The scarf gradually became more popular, being used in particular during the Ni una menos marches<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |date=2018-07-19 |title=Argentine: le foulard vert, symbole du combat pour le droit à l'avortement |url=https://www.lapresse.ca/international/amerique-latine/201807/19/01-5190059-argentine-le-foulard-vert-symbole-du-combat-pour-le-droit-a-lavortement.php |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=La Presse |language=fr|last1=Avalos |first1=Sonia }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-05-19 |title=Comment le foulard vert est-il devenu un symbole de la lutte pour le droit à l'IVG, de l'Argentine aux États-Unis ? |url=https://www.madmoizelle.com/comment-le-foulard-vert-est-il-devenu-un-symbole-de-la-lutte-pour-le-droit-a-livg-de-largentine-aux-etats-unis-1382971 |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=Madmoizelle |language=fr}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> and achieving notoriety in the public space since 2017, after the #MeToo movement, with the march "A global cry for legal abortion" that took place on 28 September of that year, having wide coverage by the media, who spoke of a "green tide".<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
The green scarf is worn around the neck, on the wrist, or on backpacks and handbags.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Celebrities wear it<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> and recently the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo have incorporated it and usually carry it during their weekly marches.<ref name=":8" />
Until 2018, the National Campaign for the Right to Legal Abortion distributed approximately 8,000 scarves per year, but in 2018 more than 200,000 were distributed.<ref name=":7" />
In reaction, the Argentine anti-abortion movement created a light blue scarf, "in favor of the two lives".<ref name=":8" />
==Internationalization== [[File:A protestor from the Revolutionary Communist Party's revolution club spreads the word.jpg|thumb|Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights distributing the green scarf outside Sproul Plaza in Berkeley, California]]
The symbol crossed borders in 2018 and was used in other Latin American countries that fought for the right to abortion.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" /> In Chile, for example, the green scarf was used as of 2018, with the messages "Open-access to free and safe abortion" and "#NoBastan3Causales" ("three causes are not enough", referring to the fact that abortion in Chile is only legal in cases of life-threatening risk to the mother, non-viable fetus or rape).<ref name=":3" />
Since September 2020, the green scarf has also been the icon of the Causa Justa Movement in Colombia. This movement filed a lawsuit before the Constitutional Court of that country to eliminate abortion from the penal code. The lawsuit was decided in February 2022 and succeeded in eliminating the crime of abortion up to 24 weeks of gestation.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Martínez |first1=Catalina |title=The Key Argument on Abortion That Changed Everything in Colombia |work=The New York Times |date=14 March 2022 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/opinion/latin-america-colombia-abortion.html |access-date=11 July 2022}}</ref>
In May 2022, the green scarf was also used in the United States during the marches in defense of the right to abortion, threatened by a possible overturn of the ''Roe v. Wade'' decision.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" />
In June 2022, after the supreme court overturned ''Roe v. Wade'' with the ''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'' ruling, protests broke out in many cities in the United States,<ref name=":11">{{Cite news |date=2022-06-24 |title=Thousands Protest End of Constitutional Right to Abortion |work=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/06/24/us/roe-wade-abortion-supreme-court |access-date=2022-06-24}}</ref> with some protestors using green scarves with the inscriptions "RiseUp4AbortionRights" and "Green4Abortion".<ref name=":12">{{Cite news |date=2022-06-27 |title=How green became the color of the abortion rights movement |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/06/27/1107717283/abortion-rights-green-symbol |access-date=2022-06-27}}</ref>
==Prohibitions== Although there is no law that bans the use of the green scarf in Argentina, many private institutions (and even some state-run schools) have decided to ban its use and display. Human rights organizations have stood against these prohibitions, stating that they are unconstitutional and a violation of the right to self-expression.<ref name=":13">{{Cite news |date=2019-07-24 |title=XUMEK REALIZÓ UNA INVESTIGACIÓN SOBRE LA PROHIBICIÓN DE LOS PAÑUELOS VERDES EN LOS COLEGIOS DE MENDOZA |work=Xumek |url=https://xumek.org.ar/xumek-realizo-una-investigacion-sobre-la-prohibicion-de-los-panuelos-verdes-en-los-colegios-de-mendoza |access-date=2022-06-27}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Abortion-rights movement Category:Political symbols