Brazil´s Supreme Court A Step Closer to Decriminalizing Abortion

Chance to Finally Uphold Women’s and Pregnant People´s Rights

Regina Tamés, Cristina Quijano Carrasco, Human Rights Watch
Oct 5, 2023

Brazil’s Supreme Court is now considering a case that could decriminalize abortion in the country up to 12 weeks of gestation.

This case had previously been on hold since 2018, when the Court held a public hearing at which Human Rights Watch urged it to consider Brazil’s obligations under international law in reaching its ruling. Brazil’s current legislation regulating abortion, which dates to 1940, is incompatible with the country's human rights obligations. Abortion is criminalized except in cases of sexual violence, when the life of the pregnant woman is in danger, or when a fatal fetal condition known as anencephaly is detected.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/05/brazils-supreme-court-step-closer-decriminalizing-abortion

Latin American feminists vow to protect abortion rights at home after shock US ruling

Women’s movements have fought hard to reverse anti-abortion laws in their countries and say it’s not the end for the US

Natalie Alcoba in Buenos Aires
Thu 5 May 2022

Reproductive rights activists across Latin America have vowed to protect hard-fought gains in their own territories as they brace for potential ripple effects if the US supreme court overturns Roe vs Wade – the 1973 ruling which guarantees the right to abortion.

Latin America has some of the most draconian anti-abortion laws in the world. But feminist movements have fought for decades to chip away at the prohibitions, and in recent years a younger, diverse generation of activists has mobilized in massive numbers to help clinch a string of victories in traditionally conservative countries.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/may/05/latin-america-abortion-rights-roe-v-wade

06.05.2022

Amnesty International Argentina

Ana Cristina González Vélez

Anis

Anis – Institute of Bioethics

Supreme Court of Brazil: Public Hearing on the Decriminalization of Abortion, August 3rd & 6th 2018– Antecedents, Content, Meanings

FEATURE: BRAZIL
Supreme Court of Brazil: Public Hearing on the Decriminalization of Abortion, August 3rd & 6th 2018– Antecedents, Content, Meanings

9 October 2018
by Sonia Corrêa, Sexuality Policy Watch

On August 3rd and 6th 2018, the Supreme Court of Brazil held a Public Hearing on ADPF 442/2017[1], a juridical instrument that challenges the constitutionality of the articles in the 1940 Penal Code that criminalize abortion. This challenge was presented to the Supreme Court in March 2017. In her opening remarks, the then Chief Justice Carmen Lucia defined the hearing as a space opened by the Court for society to manifest its views on the matter and raise arguments that could contribute to a more just judgment.

Continued: https://mailchi.mp/safeabortionwomensright/feature-supreme-court-of-brazil-public-hearing-on-the-decriminalization-of-abortion-august-2018?e=372dd34034

09.10.2018

Ana Rita Prata and Livia Cásseres

Anand Grover

Anis

Anis – Institute of Bioethics

Brazil Supreme Court

Brazilian Association of Bioethics

decriminalization of abortion

Heloísa Helena Barbosa

Human Rights Watch

Inter-American Convention on Human Rights

International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion

International Safe Abortion Day

José Henrique Torres

Livia Gil Guimarães

Natália Mori

Professor Rebecca Cook

self-induced abortion

Brazil – Presidential Candidates Need to Heed Abortion Debate

Presidential Candidates Need to Heed Abortion Debate

September 24, 2018
Margaret Wurth, Senior Researcher, Children's Rights Division

Activists around the world will mark the Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion on September 28. Like several other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Brazil is in the midst of a vigorous public debate around abortion following a recent Supreme Court hearing on the issue. Brazil’s criminal code still severely restricts access to legal abortion. But the fact that the issue is being discussed openly, including in the presidential campaign, and that women are coming forward to share their stories of ending a pregnancy, is already a significant step forward.

Under the criminal code in Brazil, abortion is illegal except in cases of rape, when necessary to save a woman’s life, or when the fetus suffers from anencephaly – a fatal congenital brain disorder. Activists have fought for years to ease the country’s abortion restrictions, citing evidence that criminal penalties do nothing to reduce abortion, but instead lead women to risk their health and lives to terminate pregnancies clandestinely.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/09/24/presidential-candidates-need-heed-abortion-debate

Professor forced into hiding by death threats over Brazil abortion hearing

Professor forced into hiding by death threats over Brazil abortion hearing
Campaigner involved in case that could lead to legal abortion in first 12 weeks of pregnancy enters protection programme

Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
Thu 2 Aug 2018

Days before a Brazilian supreme court hearing on a move that could eventually decriminalise abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a leading feminist campaigner is in hiding after receiving death threats.

Debora Diniz, a professor of anthropology at the University of Brasília, who helped bring the legal action with bioethics institute Anis, is sequestered in an unknown location but will still appear at the two-day hearing, which starts on Friday.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/aug/02/professor-forced-into-hiding-by-death-threats-over-brazil-abortion-hearing

Supreme Court of Brazil to hear experts on decriminalization of abortion on 3rd and 6th August 2018

FEATURE: Supreme Court of Brazil to hear experts on decriminalization of abortion on 3rd and 6th August 2018
1 August 2018

PRESS RELEASE

Debate on the decriminalization of abortion starts this week in the Supreme Court of Brazil – 3rd/6th August 2018

Public hearing

On Friday August 3rd and Monday August 6th, the Brazilian Supreme Court will hold a public hearing about the decriminalization of abortion. At the hearing, 50 speakers are scheduled to be heard, including health, law and social science experts, as well as feminist and international human rights organizations, and religious representatives.

Continued: https://mailchi.mp/safeabortionwomensright/feature-supreme-court-of-brazil-to-hear-experts-on-decriminalization-of-abortion-on-3rd-and-6th-august-2018?e=aa9f6b38bd

Brazil: Decriminalize Abortion

Brazil: Decriminalize Abortion
Court Considering Petition to Expand Access

July 31, 2018

(São Paulo) – Brazil’s abortion laws are incompatible with its human rights obligations, Human Rights Watch said today, releasing a video about the issue. Human Rights Watch will speak at a public hearing on August 3 and 6, 2018, as part of a Supreme Court case challenging the criminalization of abortion in Brazil in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Human Rights Watch will urge the court to consider Brazil’s obligations under international law in reaching its ruling.

Abortion is legal in Brazil only in cases of rape, when necessary to save a woman’s life, or when the fetus suffers from anencephaly – a fatal congenital brain disorder. Women and girls who terminate pregnancies under any other circumstances face up to three years in prison.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/07/31/brazil-decriminalize-abortion

Brazil Death Signals Need for Abortion Reform

Brazil Death Signals Need for Abortion Reform
Court Case Challenges Strict Laws

Margaret Wurth, Senior Researcher, Children's Rights Division MargaretWurth
July 26, 2018

Ingriane Barbosa Carvalho, a mother of three in her early 30s, died two months ago in Brazil. The medical examiner’s report states that she died of complications from an unsafe abortion, and the story made headlines last week when the provider was arrested. Carvalho is one of the casualties of Brazil’s harsh abortion law.

A case currently before the Supreme Court could expand access to abortion in Brazil. On August 3 and 6, experts from all over the world, including Human Rights Watch, will testify in the case, which challenges the criminalization of abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/07/26/brazil-death-signals-need-abortion-reform

Brazil: No Woman Should Need to Beg for An Abortion

No Woman Should Need to Beg for An Abortion

Margaret Wurth, Researcher, Children's Rights Division
December 1, 2017

Last week, Rebeca Mendes Silva Leite, a 30-year-old woman from São Paulo, Brazil, asked Brazil’s Supreme Court for permission to safely and legally terminate an unplanned pregnancy she does not want to continue.

No woman should find herself in this position. But because Rebeca lives in Brazil, where abortion is illegal in most circumstances, she does not qualify for a legal abortion.

Continued at source: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/12/01/no-woman-should-need-beg-abortion

Supported by ANIS, ANADEP files petition to the Brazilian Supreme Court for protection of rights violated during the Zika virus public health emergency

International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion

by Safe Abortion | posted in: Brazil, Latin America/ Caribbean, Newsletter
Aug 30, 2016

A judicial constitutional review was filed before the Brazilian Supreme Court on 24 August, to demand the protection of rights violated in the context of the Zika virus epidemic in Brazil.

Coordinated by Anis – Institute of Bioethics, and filed by the National Association of Public Defenders (ANADEP), the lawsuit was the result of a collective effort of a broad group of researchers, activists, and lawyers to articulate the demands of women and children affected by Zika.

Six months after the World Health Organization declared an international public health emergency due to the neurological disorders caused by the virus, families affected by the Zika virus congenital syndrome still have not received support due to omissions on the part of the Brazilian government.

The demands of the petition are organized into five topics. The petition says:

[continued at link]

Source: International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion