Why Brazil Should Decriminalize Abortion

Why Brazil Should Decriminalize Abortion

September 28, 2017
Published in Folha de S.Paulo
Margaret Wurth, Researcher, Children's Rights Division

I met “Mariana,” a 20-year-old woman in Paraíba state, almost a year ago in the waiting area of a public hospital. I was investigating access to reproductive health services for women and girls in northeastern Brazil, and Mariana was one of my first interviews. She told me she had an unplanned pregnancy, and gave birth, when she was 18.

“I cried a lot and I didn’t want it at all,” she said.

But abortion is a crime in Brazil, except in cases of rape, when the life of the woman is at risk, or the fetus has anencephaly—a fatal congenital brain disorder. I asked Mariana if she felt like she had any options other than continuing with the pregnancy. “No,” she said quietly, shaking her head.

Continued at source: Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/28/why-brazil-should-decriminalize-abortion