‘The time is now’: Inside Brazil’s fight to decriminalize abortion

Women will die due to far right’s attack on Supreme Court that has made decriminalization unlikely, activists say

Andrea Dip
5 December 2023

Brazil’s Supreme Court has postponed a debate on decriminalizing early-term abortion, leading feminists and rights advocates to warn that the justices will be responsible for the deaths of more women and girls in the country.

Abortion in the country is punishable by up to three years in prison, and is allowed on only three grounds: rape, risk to the life of the pregnant person, and – following a 2012 Supreme Court decision – when the fetus suffers anencephaly, a fatal birth defect.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/brazil-fight-abortion-decriminalize-supreme-court-lula-justice-weber-barroso/

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

Dear Supreme Court of Brazil, Use Your Power to Protect Women

Video by Eliza Capai (11:34 minutes)
Text by Joanna Erdman
Sep 26, 2023

Ms. Capai is a Brazilian filmmaker. This short film is adapted from her feature-length documentary “Incompatible With Life.” Ms. Erdman is a professor of health law and policy at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, state anti-abortion laws came into immediate effect, clinics closed the same day, and people desperately searched for care against the clock of pregnancy. That is to say, there is an urgency to injustice, much as the time for justice is always now.

These lessons are being tested in Brazil. Last week Brazil’s Supreme Court opened voting in a case to decriminalize abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. This would be a sea change in the country, as explored in the film above. Today Brazil prohibits abortion, with only narrow exceptions in cases of rape, risk to life and a fatal fetal condition known as anencephaly.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/26/opinion/abortion-brazil-supreme-court.html

Brazil’s top court opens vote on decriminalizing abortion up to 12th week of pregnancy

Mauricio Savarese, The Associated Press
Published Sep 22, 2023

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s top court opened a session Friday that will decide whether abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy will be decriminalized nationwide.

The South American nation currently allows abortions only in cases of rape, an evident risk to the mother’s health or if the fetus has no functioning brain.

Continued: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/brazils-top-court-opens-vote-on-decriminalizing-abortion-up-to-12th-week-of-pregnancy

22.09.2023

News

abortion law reform

Brazil Supreme Court

Chief Justice Rosa Weber

Debora Diniz

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

Brazil’s Supreme Court to vote on decriminalising abortion

Sept 22, 2023

By Katy Watson, BBC News, South America

Brazil's Supreme Court has started voting on whether to decriminalise abortion. However, the session was quickly postponed after a minister called for the vote to take place in person instead of via video - and no new date has yet been set.

Currently, abortion is only allowed in three cases: that of rape, risk to the woman's life and anencephaly - when the foetus has an undeveloped brain. If the Supreme Court votes in favour, abortion will be decriminalised up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-66881900

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

I tried (and failed) to get a safe and legal abortion in Brazil

I tried (and failed) to get a safe and legal abortion in Brazil

By Rebeca Mendes
Feb 09, 2018

I'm a 30-year-old Brazilian with two young children, temporary employment and hopes for an eventual legal career. When I sought permission to terminate my pregnancy, I was thinking about my family, my finances and my future. In the process I found myself at the center of a political story, becoming the first woman in our country to fight for an abortion in court based on personal, nonmedical needs.

Last month, the United States marked the 45th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade — a landmark decision that secured the right of American women to have an abortion. It remains the law of the land, despite repeated attempts to reverse the decision. Since filing my petition with Brazil's Supreme Court last year, many people have compared my suit to Jane Roe's. But there is one crucial difference: She won. The court denied my plea and women in Brazil continue to risk their health and lives if they decide to terminate a pregnancy.

Continued: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-mendes-brazil-abortion-20180209-story.html

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