Kendal Blust/KJZZ

Protesters carry a banner that reads, "this revolution is feminist," during the International Women's Day March in Hermosillo, Sonora, on March 8, 2020.

For the last 30 years, Sept. 28 has been celebrated as a day of action for the decriminalization of abortion in Latin America, the Caribbean and other parts of the world. And despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, activists in neighboring Sonora, Mexico are among those taking to the streets today.

Feminist activists in Sonora are marching to demand the right to free, safe and legal abortions. But above all to send a message to women that they aren’t alone, said Andrea Sanchez, an activist who helped organize the march in the Sonoran capital Hermosillo.

"So that all women in Sonora know that they're not alone, that we are many that are becoming aware and fighting to have access to this right," she said.

A growing number of Sonoran women are joining together to support each other and to push authorities to respect their reproductive rights, she said, including decriminalizing abortion. And young women are at the forefront of the movement, she added.

"They are leading and creating intergenerational collectives that are fighting for change," she said.

Currently, abortion is only legally available to all women who request the procedure up to 12 weeks into pregnancy in Mexico City and the state of Oaxaca, which legalized abortion last year. In Sonora, receiving or providing an abortion is punishable by law except in cases of rape, when the mother’s life is in danger or if the abortion is considered accidental.