Hold My Hand | POY Latam

A woman prepares to swallow the Misoprostol pills while the Companion holds her hand in a low income neighborhood in west Caracas, Venezuela, on August 25, 2022. She had already taken the Mifrepristone pills to prepare her uterus for the abortion.

Women and activists from fifferent feminist and pro-choice organizations dance, play the drums and sing during the Global Day of Action for safe and legal abortion march in Caracas, Venezuela, on September 28, 2023. Blood stained trousers on top of a bed in an apartment in east Caracas, Venezuela, on March 26, 2023. The owner had an abortion two months ago but still bleeds. Detail of a green kerchief printed with the message “Safe and accompanied abortion. Venezuela” picked up at the Global Day of Action for safe and legal abortion march in Caracas, Venezuela, on September 28, 2023

A bird flies in front of a rainbow over the sea near Chuspa, Venezuela, on March 3, 2021. Since there is no doctor working at the Ambulatorio de Chuspa, women giving birth have to travel 2 hours towards the regional Dr. Jose Maria Vargas hospital at the La Guaira city.A toilet after the product (gynecological term for fetus) was expelled after an abortion in a low income neighborhood in Caracas, Venezuela, on August 25, 2022. The woman was less than nine weeks pregnant, so the fetus looks like a blood clot.

A woman lies in bed beside the altar she made for the picture of her fetus’s sonogram in her home in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 26, 2023. She believes this is a rite of passage away from guilt and towards better mental health. She practiced her abortion with a friend and a virtual Companion on January 30, 2023.

Children of the Guanipa family and their friends lie in bed together watching television in Punto Fijo, Venezuela, on July 28, 2022. The Guanipa home is too small for the ammount of children it accomodates. In Venezuela, specially the regions outside of the capital like Punto Fijo, being a woman is strictly tied to being a mother. Abortion isn’t even considered an option for those who cannot afford to have children.

The high levels of Beta-sitosterol, present in the seed of the pomegranate fruit (Punica granatum), stimulate muscular activity in the contractions of the uterus during childbirth. Detail of a pomgranate in Caracas, Venezuela, on August 13, 2023

A doctor assesed a woman’s blood presure at the Domingo Luciani Hospital in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 20, 2022.It dropped because she had a bleeding infection in her vagina and did not stop bleeding. She was in shock and could not speak or hear.

A companion hugs a woman who just went through an abortion process in her boyfriend’s home. The process lasted around four hours in a low income neighborhood in Caracas, Venezuela, on August 26, 2022. While she moaned in pain inside the bathroom, the companion held her and told her “You are strong, you can go through this. I’m here”.

A Companion puts make up on an activist during an Global Day of Action for safe and legal abortion march in Caracas, Venezuela, on September 28, 2022. This was the second rally ever organized in the country in favor of the decriminalization of the interruption of pregnancy.

A pregnant young woman sits in the sun after a cold night at her family’s platain farm in El Junquito, Venezuela, on November 17, 2021. In Venezuela and Latin America, the concept of womanhood is tied to motherhood. You become a woman once you give birth. Women who do not want to be mothers are considered an anomaly in society.

I thought that accompanying an abortion was going to be a dark moment. It usually takes place indoors, at night and surrounded by an aura of illegality and danger. Venezuela is one of the five countries in Latin America that prohibits abortion. Many go through it alone because they fear social penalization more than the law. But this woman was not alone. A Companion held her hand.

The Companions are a secret network of women that accompany others to abort safely, since hospitals do not practice the procedure freely. I documented one using shadow, movement and light in order to protect their identities from governmental intelligence and police. They stalk them through online surveillance and in the rallies that I’ve photographed. In spite of persecution the Companions continue to work in the most impoverished areas of the country.

The most common cause for abortion is money. The country has been going through an economic crisis since 2013. Extreme poverty continually grows and women are the most affected in this equation. Public entities haven’t published maternal mortality figures since 2016 and unawareness puts women at risk, especially those part of 94.5% of the population that live below the poverty line, according to human rights organization Provea.

Undeterred by the legal status of abortion and social penalization, women carry on pregnancy interruptions out of necessity. They assume the big risk of breaking the law and jeopardizing their physical and mental integrity. Those who do not contact Companions endanger themselves by using the wrong tools, being scammed in the black market for abortive pills and by being alone during the procedure.

Today, word of mouth, social media and organized efforts are spreading awareness in the conservative country, while authorities pursue Companions and ignore draft legislations with new sexual and reproductive health proposals. Still, more women are choosing to be part of the secret network in spite of arrests like Vanessa Rosales’s in 2021. She provided a thirteen year old rape survivor with abortive pills.

It is important to document now the beginning of the Green Wave movement that has only just reached Venezuela, but is sweeping the region. “Hold my Hand” portrays the Companions’ resolution to hold the hand of those who decide to end a pregnancy in a hostile context. It shows sisterhood, courage and the secret fight for freedom of choice.