See How Female Protesters Strip Off and Take to the Streets to Demand the Legalization of Abortion [Photos]

Several women piqued by the rampant spread of violence against women as well as the ban on abortion, have taken to the streets in protest.

 

Thousands of people took to the streets across South America to highlight a number of human rights issues, including gender equality, violence against women, women’s rights and abortion law, on International Women’s Day on Tuesday.

 

Large demonstrations were held in capitals all over the continent, including Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica and Venezuela, as part of the global observation of International Women’s Day.

Many of the protests saw women poignantly using their bodies to fight for their cause, opting to walk topless during the demonstrations with slogans written across their chests and stomachs.

Activists in Brazil marched through the streets of Rio De Janeiro calling for a myriad of reforms, including protection from genderised violence, expanded female reproductive rights and legalization of abortion.

Brazilian law currently only allows abortion in cases of rape or certain dire health threats, and protesters were heard shouting slogans to change legislation on terminations of pregnancies while marching through Rio De Janeiro with ‘legalize’ written across their topless bodies.

Demonstrations were held in Santiago, Chile, Mexico City, Mexico, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, protesting femicide – the murder of women because of their gender – and saw protesters wearing make-up to resemble assault injuries and carrying crosses bearing slogans such as ‘Not one more death’.