IN PHOTOS: Here’s how green became the colour of abortion rights

Abortion rights protests are expected to grow in the lead-up to the U.S. midterms after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Here's why green is everywhere.

From the streets of Poland to crowds in Argentina, Mexico and, most recently, the United States following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, abortion rights protests have something in common: the colour green.

Green banners, snapping in the air. Green scarves, green bandanas, green shirts.

Green smoke, billowing in clouds through packed crowds as women and men fight for the right to make decisions about what is best for their bodies, families and futures.

But why the colour green?

The most recent demonstrations bedecked in the colour green are those taking place across the United States in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 court case that established a constitutional right to abortion in that country.

It was during protests in Latin America, not the United States, where a hallmark of the abortion rights fight was born, and where it has continued to gain momentous political force over recent years.

According to both the Washington Post and the French newspaper Le Monde, the origin dates back to demonstrations in the late 1970s in Argentina, when the families of people who disappeared under the country’s military dictatorship wore white scarves during protests outside the presidential palace.

Two decades later, the push for abortion rights in that country was growing and Marta Alanis, founder of the abortion rights group Catholics for the Right to Decide, had an idea.