In Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Peru, lawmakers have proposed bills that would toughen punishments and, in some cases, create new procedures for people found to have made false reports, with a particular focus on cases involving domestic, sexual or gender-based violence.

Individually, the measures are presented as safeguards against fabricated allegations. Taken together, women’s rights groups say they reflect a growing – and disturbing – narrative that women routinely misuse laws intended to protect them, one they say risks making victims too afraid to report abuse in the first place.

That the bills have been presented almost in “parallel” suggests that conservative groups campaigning against women’s rights are pursuing a broader and coordinated regional strategy, according to Paula Ávila-Guillén, director of the US-based Women’s Equality Centre. “The likelihood of it being a coincidence is very low.”

And the proposals are advancing despite scant evidence that such cases of false accusations are widespread – and that false reporting already exists as a criminal offence in each of the countries concerned.