Abortions, the embryo and the attempted “social regression” in Greece
Panagiota Bampatzimopoulou
Abstract
The aim of this article is to selectively examine certain interventions made by some in the Greek public sphere to speak out about abortions and the fetus/embryo, precisely because in their view it cannot speak, so they take it upon themselves to speak for it. I will examine a series of interventions by state and church institutions, politicians, journalists, but especially the campaign at metro stations in 2020 by the anti-abortion “movement” “let me live!” in order to highlight the terms in which the fetus/embryo is represented and illustrated in the Greek public sphere over the last years. In my view, these efforts are part of the chronicle of an attempted and systematic social regression with the blessing of the present government that is affecting the right to self-determination of the body of people who carry a uterus.