In Brazil, an abortion debate pits feminists against the church

Critics say the country’s abortion ban jeopardizes the health of Black and poor women.

By Gabriela Barzallo
12 Apr 2024

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – In 2019, Mariana Leal de Souza, a 39-year-old Black woman living outside Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo, was having a hard time coping with the suicide of her teenage son when she was confronted with more difficult news: She was pregnant.

“I couldn’t believe it,” the social worker told Al Jazeera during a recent video call. “Mentally and financially, I wasn’t ready for another pregnancy after the loss of my son.”

She decided to terminate, but there was a problem: Brazil’s Penal Code permits abortion only if the pregnancy is the result of rape, puts the mother’s health at risk or doctors diagnose severe malformations to the fetus. None of these applied to Leal de Souza.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/12/in-brazil-an-abortion-debate-pits-feminists-against-the-church

Brazil – A 10-year-old rape victim sought an abortion. A judge urged: Stay pregnant.

By Marina Lopes
July 2, 2022

The 10-year-old rape victim was pregnant, and asking a court to authorize an abortion.

She found herself sitting under a crucifix in the courtroom in southern Brazil, across from a judge and prosecutor who repeatedly urged her to continue the pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/02/brazil-child-rape-abortion/

02.07.2022

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Brazil 10-year old rape victim

Debora Diniz

Jair Bolsonaro

Joana Ribeiro Zimmer

Juliana Cesario Alvim

Brazil: Raped girl, 11, gets abortion after initial refusal

Brazilian prosecutors say a raped 11-year-old girl got a lawful abortion after a judge blocked her for weeks from ending her pregnancy

By Débora Álvares and Mauricio Savarese, Associated Press
June 23, 2022

BRASILIA, Brazil -- Brazilian prosecutors said Thursday that a raped 11-year-old girl had received a legal abortion after a judge blocked her for weeks from ending her pregnancy.

Federal prosecutors in the state of Santa Catarina said in a statement that Polydoro Ernani de São Thiago hospital had taken "measures to interrupt the minor's pregnancy” after a formal request made on behalf of the girl's family.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/brazil-raped-girl-11-abortion-initial-refusal-85607047

23.06.2022

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Polydoro Ernani de São Thiago hospital

Brazilian judge probed for blocking abortion for raped child

Brazil’s judicial watchdog agency says it's investigating a judge who stopped an 11-year-old rape victim from getting an abortion

By Débora Álvares and Mauricio Savarese, Associated Press
June 22, 2022

BRASILIA, Brazil -- Brazil's judicial watchdog agency says it is investigating a judge who stopped an 11-year-old rape victim from getting an abortion — a procedure that advocates insist is allowed in the South American nation for rape cases at any stage of a pregnancy.

Santa Catarina state Judge Joana Ribeiro Zimmer was filmed at a hearing May 9 asking the child whether she understood how pregnancies happen, referring to her rapist as “the father of the baby," asking her to “hold on a little more” to save it and even suggesting a name should be picked. The girl repeatedly said she did not want to give birth.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/brazilian-judge-probed-blocking-abortion-raped-child-85569779

22.06.2022

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Underground Activists in Brazil Fight for Women’s Reproductive Rights

While abortion has long been aggressively criminalized in Brazil, in the past few years, anti-abortion zeal has reached a fever pitch. In response, abortion activist networks support and guide women through at-home procedures.

October 23, 2021
Alejandra Marks

Last month, when Taís Oliveira* found out she was pregnant, she got in her car and cried. A single mother living in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, Taís had promised herself she would never raise a child alone again. The next day she began her search for an abortion. Under President Jair Bolsonaro’s radically anti-choice government, however, obtaining one through either legal or illegal means would be difficult. With scores of religious conservatives in Congress and at the helm of the public agencies, anti-abortion surveillance pervades.

Continued: https://portside.org/2021-10-23/underground-activists-brazil-fight-womens-reproductive-rights

Argentina: Can one country’s change of abortion law alter a continent?

By Katy Watson, BBC South America correspondent
March 4, 2021

When Argentina's Congress voted to legalise abortion up to the 14th week of pregnancy, Renata (not her real name) felt excited.

"How cool," the 20-year-old from
northern Brazil remembers thinking in late December. A student and supermarket
worker, Renata saw it as the start of something new in a region where abortion
is mostly illegal.

But she thought little more of it until a
week later, when she found out she was pregnant herself. Then, she says, her
world collapsed.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56098334

Brazil: New president of the House opens the road for anti-abortion provisions

2 Mar 2021
by Thais Rodrigues and Edson Sardinha*

Brazilian conservative and extreme -right
parlimentarians are planing to take advantage of the new presidency of the
House, MP Arthur Lira (from the Partido Progressista) to push through with
their anti-abortion propositions, which had been shelved by the former
president, MP Rodrigo Maia (Democratas).
Having been supported in his election by the House Evangelical group and the
Parliamentary Front against Abortion and
in Defense of Life, Lira will face much pressure on their part to open the way
for tougher legislation against abortion
to be adopted. This agenda, however, faces
resistance in other quarters of the Congress.

Continued: https://sxpolitics.org/bolsonaros-pick-for-the-house-presidency-promises-anti-abortion-agenda/21900

Brazilian women head to Argentina to avoid abortion ban

David Biller, Almudena Calatrava and Tatiana Pollastri - The Associated Press
Published Thursday, January 7, 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO -- With her 21st birthday fast approaching, Sara left the home she shares with her mother for her first trip on a plane. She didn't tell her family the real reason she'd taken out a loan for 5,000 Brazilian reais (US$1,000).

Two days later and several hundred miles away, a 25-year-old woman packed a backpack in her one-bedroom Sao Paulo apartment and left for the airport with her boyfriend.

Both women were bound for the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, seeking something forbidden in Brazil: an abortion.

Continued: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/brazilian-women-head-to-argentina-to-avoid-abortion-ban-1.5257305

Unlike Argentina, Abortion Remains Blocked in Brazilian Congress

Resistance to the issue in Congress is increasing with the efforts of President Jair Bolsonaro.

By Oliver Mason
December 31, 2020

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - While the Argentine Senate on Wednesday, December 30th, passed a law validating women's right to abortion until the 14th week of pregnancy, the issue is facing opposition from conservative and religious legislators in the Brazilian Congress.

The assessment of legislators heard by Folha newspaper is that, within the current context, there is no room for legislation similar to the neighboring country to progress in the National Congress.

Continued: https://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/brazil/life-brazil/unlike-argentina-abortion-is-blocked-in-brazilian-congress/

31.12.2020

Women’s movement sweeps Latin America to loosen abortion restrictions

Dec 1, 2020
By Daina Beth Solomon and Cassandra Garrison

MEXICO CITY/BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Several weeks pregnant and about to start a job away from home, Lupita Ruiz had no doubts about wanting to end her pregnancy, despite knowing she could face jail time for having an abortion under a law in her state of Chiapas in southern Mexico.

She asked friends for help until she found a doctor two hours from her town who agreed to do it in secret.

Continued: https://www.capebretonpost.com/news/world/womens-movement-sweeps-latin-america-to-loosen-abortion-restrictions-526103/