Untitled
This work is from a series of etchings developed between two Portuguese referenda on the legalisation of abortion, in 1998 and 2007. Paula Rego (1935–2022), a British-Portuguese artist, was open about her own abortions and felt strongly about women having safe access to them. The etchings appeared in several Portuguese newspapers in the lead up to a second referendum on abortion in 2007, and centred the debate back to women’s experiences by highlighting the fear, pain and dangers of making abortion illegal. The subjects of the etchings are mostly depicted alone in shadowy interiors, while their faces show the distress and pain that illegal terminations can cause.
The effect of the series was so powerful that it has been credited with helping sway public opinion to form a second referendum in 2007 which legalised abortion in Portugal
