For three years, Silvia Alanis visited high schools in a small town in northern Argentina, teaching sex education and providing teenagers with birth control as part of a federally funded effort to lower high rates of teen pregnancy.

But now the program has been largely dismantled by the government of President Javier Milei, who has called feminism a “ridiculous” fight that threatens Western values and described abortion as “aggravated murder.”

As part of a broader belt-tightening plan to address Argentina’s prolonged economic crisis, Mr. Milei is cutting programs aimed at women, and pushing back against policies that promote gender equity and diversity.

Roughly 600 of the employees of the teen pregnancy program were fired this year — eliminating the bulk of its work force.

The program, which sent hundreds of workers across the country, helped significantly reduce the rate of babies born to young women, according to experts.

Ms. Alanis, who was among those dismissed from the teen pregnancy program, received a voice message not too long ago from a staff member at one of the high schools where she had worked.