Survival through loss : A field study of the Nicaraguan women's movement's perceptions of loss, its remobilisation and the motivators in the struggle for the right to abortion.

Abstract: The Nicaraguan women's movement has remobilised through the severe loss that the total ban on abortion in 2006 implied. The women active within the movement face a shrinking political space, lack of resources, repression and threats, still they continue to struggle for the right to abortion. This field study explores the determinants of the survival of the Nicaraguan women’s movement analysing the activists' perceptions of loss and the mechanisms of activist retention. The results of the study points to the importance of the ideology and collective identity for the feminist women within the movement, concluding that it would seem that no matter of negative perceptions of defeat, the costs of activism or how unreachable the goals are perceived to be, the activists will continue to struggle for women's equal rights to life.