Introduction

Carmen Cecilia Martínez López has seen the law change lives—both for better and worse. 

 As a young Venezuelan lawyer and migrant in Latin America, “it was impossible to ignore the rampant injustices I saw around me,” she says. “I witnessed firsthand how laws and policies could either expand possibilities for people or crush their dreams entirely.” 

When she arrived in Colombia, Carmen found a legal system that restricted access to essential health care like abortion—at the same time as it permitted the mistreatment of migrants and other vulnerable groups. It was this awareness that set Carmen on the course to reproductive rights advocacy: “I simply couldn’t accept that legal systems designed to protect people were instead harming them.”  

In 2018, Carmen joined the Center’s Latin America and the Caribbean program. A year later, her team would bring four cases before the United Nations Human Rights Committee, drawing attention to the harsh realities of abortion denial in Latin America and contributing to a movement that raises its voice for millions of girls and women across the region. 

This, for Carmen, is what the law should be about. “[Litigation is] a political and human act,” she says. “Every case we bring is rooted in the lived experiences of women and girls, in all their diversity, who have been excluded from justice for far too long.”

A new global standard

A new global standard

The cases had their roots in a multi-country study which shed light on one such group: girls forced into motherhood after surviving sexual violence. These girls faced both the physical danger of childbirth—with four times the risk of life-threatening complications—as well as a horde of social and emotional consequences. 

“Many of the girls spoke about wanting to return to school but being unable to, because they were now caring for a baby. Others shared the emotional pain of being blamed by their communities or struggling to bond with a child conceived through rape. And time and again, we saw how forced motherhood locked these girls into a cycle of poverty and exclusion,” says Carmen.  

So the Center’s Latin America and the Caribbean team got to work. “We carefully selected four emblematic cases—Norma, Fátima, Lucía, and Susana—because each one powerfully illustrated the systemic failures girls face across Latin America.”  

Sexually abused by older men, Norma, Fátima, Lucía, and Susana were all under 14 when they became pregnant. Each tried to report the abuse to local authorities, who declined to take any action. Without access to abortion care, all were forced into motherhood. “These cases weren’t exceptions; they represented patterns,” says Carmen.  

The problem went beyond a single country, so the cases had to as well. That meant taking it past national courts to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. As legal strategist, Carmen developed the arguments the team would present there, proving how the denial of abortion violated multiple human rights.  

Carmen and the Center team worked hard to get policy makers and the public involved in their fight. The cases became the backbone of a movement, known as “Son niñas, no madres”—They are girls, not mothers—which spread across Latin America.  

It took until 2025 for the Committee to issue its decisions. When they finally came, all four were in favor of the girls. “It was immense happiness,” says Carmen, “thinking that all the girls’ efforts were worth it.” 

“For the first time in history, the UN Human Rights Committee recognized that denying abortion to girls constitutes “forced motherhood”—a violation of their right to a dignified life. That’s not just legal language; that’s validation for every girl who’s been told her dreams don’t matter, that her body isn’t her own.”  

It also acknowledged the denial of abortion as gender-based discrimination—an unprecedented recognition. The decision set a new global standard, raising the bar for justice and opening the door for structural change.

Demanding better

Demanding better

The team knows these wins are just the beginning of the road. It will take new national laws and policies to ensure no one else goes through what Fátima, Norma, Lucía, and Susana endured.  

“We’re not naive about the work ahead,” says Carmen. “But we’ve learned that when you combine rigorous legal strategy with the clarity of lived experience, you can move mountains. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.” 

“I’ve seen what’s possible when we refuse to accept the unacceptable,” she adds. “I’ve watched Fátima begin to rebuild her life, become a teacher, create a family she chose.  Honoring her journey means not only recognizing resilience, but also confronting the fact that too many girls and women are still denied the conditions to access justice and reclaim their life projects. That is why we must keep pushing forward—until no girl is ever forced into motherhood, and every one of them can decide her future with freedom and dignity.”