‘I was terrified I was going to die.’ Rape victims in Brazil struggle to access legal abortions

A Brazilian woman who says she became pregnant after being raped in March should have been granted access to a legal abortion

By ELÉONORE HUGHES, Associated Press
June 19, 2025

RIO DE JANEIRO -- A 27-year-old Brazilian woman, who said she became pregnant after being raped in March during Carnival in Brasilia, should have been granted access to a legal abortion. But when she sought to terminate the pregnancy at a hospital around a month later, she was told she needed a police report to access the service, despite it not being a legal requirement.

She decided to abort at home with medication she bought on the black market, with only a few friends on site to help. “I fainted several times because of the pain. I was terrified I was going to die,” she said.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/terrified-die-rape-victims-brazil-struggle-access-legal-123029719

New Rio de Janeiro law requires public hospitals to display anti-abortion signs

Opponents view the controversial act as part of a growing trend across Brazil to further restrict abortion access

Tiago Rogero in Rio de Janeiro
Thu 19 Jun 2025

A new law has just come into force in Rio de Janeiro requiring all public hospitals and clinics run by the municipal government to display anti-abortion signs bearing messages such as: “Did you know that the unborn child is discarded as hospital waste?”

Reproductive rights activists view the act as the latest example of a growing trend across Brazil to further restrict access to abortion in a country that already has some of the world’s most restrictive laws.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/19/rio-de-janeiro-anti-abortion-signs

19.06.2025

News

anti-abortion signs

anti-choice lies

anti-choice misinformation

anti-choice propaganda

Debora Diniz

Eduardo Paes

Jair Bolsonaro

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Brazil/USA – Why We Must Keep Talking About Abortion Pills

As part of a delegation to Brazil, I saw how our countries’ respective struggles to maintain and expand reproductive justice are really part of the same fight.

Regina Mahone
June 16, 2025

Brasília, Brazil—We packed ourselves into a meeting room at the back of the Socialism and Freedom Party (known as PSOL) office in the National Congress building in Brasília on May 14. The bird-shaped capital of Brazil was developed in the 1950s as a modern, futuristic city, but inside the legislative building are standard government meeting spaces, with cubicle walls and drab, windowless halls.

We took our seats at the big conference table or on one of the folding chairs located along the sides. Lunch was served—an assortment of breads, including the staple pão de queijo; salads; fresh juice; and Brazilian carrot cake, which was fluffy (nothing like the traditional US version) and delicious.

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/medication-abortion-misoprostol-brazil/

The Alarming Rise of Gender-Based Violence in Brazil

By Manoela Miklos and Samira Bueno
May 27, 2025

SÃO PAULO—Gender-based violence in Brazil, a longstanding problem in Latin America’s most populous country, has reached alarming levels. In the last 12 months, 37.5% of women aged 16 and over experienced some form of violence. This is the highest rate recorded since the local think tank Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública, known as FBSP, started monitoring the issue in 2017.

The data presents a concerning situation for the 21.4 million women involved in these incidents and for our society as a whole: Despite extensive public debate on gender roles and gender-based violence, there has not been a significant reduction in the number of victims, nor have more individuals sought help. It is our responsibility to understand these statistics and advocate for public policies that address this issue.

Continued: https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/the-alarming-rise-of-gender-based-violence-in-brazil/

27.05.2025

Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública

gender-based violence

Jair Bolsonaro

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Total criminalisation of abortion is a threat to sexual and reproductive health in Brazil

BMJ 2025; 388 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r52
Published 10 January 2025
Michelle Fernandez, Luísa M M Fernandes, Melania M R de Amorim

In Brazil, a proposed constitutional amendment is currently being discussed in the National Congress, aiming to criminalise abortion in the country entirely. It stipulates prison sentences for women who undergo the procedure, ranging from 6 to 20 years, regardless of the circumstances. The proposal equates abortion with the crime of homicide. The suggested penalties for abortion are harsher than those currently imposed on rapists, who face a maximum of 10 years in prison. The proposed amendment would threaten the reproductive rights and health of women in Brazil, and directly affect their dignity and autonomy.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r52

Brazilian rape victims who have abortions may face longer in jail than rapists

Proposed law would further limit access to abortion for the 75% of reported rape victims in Brazil who are under 18

Diana Cariboni
20 June 2024

Abortion is illegal in Brazil with only three exceptions: risk to the life of the pregnant person, fetus anencephaly (a condition in which parts of the fetus’ skull and brain don’t develop) and rape. In these cases, people can seek an abortion with no time limits.

But a new bill that Brazilian conservatives are attempting to push through seeks to declare all abortions performed after week 22 of the pregnancy as homicide – and punishable with prison terms of up to 20 years.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/brazil-new-anti-abortion-law-homicide-child-rape-victims-prison-longer-abusers/

Brazilian women protest bill that would equate late abortions with homicide

The new law would equate the termination of a pregnancy after 22 weeks with homicide. Critics say it would especially hurt child rape victims, as their pregnancies tend to be detected later.

June 17, 2024
By The Associated Press

SÃO PAULO — Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of São Paulo on Saturday as protests sweep across Brazil in opposition to a bill that would further criminalize abortions. If passed, the law would equate the termination of a pregnancy after 22 weeks with homicide.

…To rally opposition, rights’ groups created the ‘A child is not a mother’ campaign that has flooded social media. Placards, stickers and banners emblazoned with the slogan have abounded during demonstrations. And viral visuals depicting women in red cloaks compare Brazil to Gilead, the theocratic patriarchy Margaret Atwood created in her dystopian novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/brazilian-women-protest-bill-equate-late-abortions-homicide-rcna157578

Protests across Brazil over divisive abortion law

June 14, 2024
By Malu Cursino, BBC News

Thousands of people in Brazil have protested against a proposed nationwide law change which would equate abortion to homicide, even in cases where a pregnancy is the result of rape.

It would mean women who terminate pregnancies after 22 weeks could be jailed for up to 20 years. Brazil's ruling party opposes the move but conservatives in Congress are attempting to push the bill through.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyxx17zeydyo

14.06.2024

News

abortion law reform

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

By bus, car and plane, women journey across Latin America for abortions

By Marina Dias and Terrence McCoy
February 23, 2024

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — She’d taken an overnight bus from the countryside, then a train across the urban sprawl of São Paulo, and now she was staring out the plane window, head full of worry. There was a pink rosary in her pocket. But she didn’t see the point of praying. She feared she was a sinner, a criminal, and this trip, her first time out of Brazil, would be a secret she’d carry for the rest of her life.

Cristina was 35 years old. She was 11 weeks pregnant. She came from a conservative Christian family in a conservative Christian nation where abortion was largely illegal, so she’d decided to travel to a country where it was not and bring an end to the pregnancy she didn’t want.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/23/brazil-latin-america-abortion-restrictions/

Abortion: Pro-choice Forces in Brazil Are Being Threatened by Christian Radicals and the Ultra-right

BY ANDREA DIP
DECEMBER 10, 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.brazzil.com/abortion-pro-choice-forces-in-brazil-are-being-threatened-by-christian-radicals-and-the-ultra-right/