Brazil erupts in protests over proposed bill to treat abortion as homicide
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A woman shouts slogans during a protest against an anti-abortion bill under evaluation in the Brazilian National Congress in São Paulo, Brazil, on June 15. Photo: Nelson Almeida/AFP via Getty Images
Brazil's Congress is considering a bill that would allow authorities to charge with homicide anyone who has an abortion.
Why it matters: The bill would curtail abortion rights in one of the most populated countries in the Americas, when other nations have made decriminalization a key public health policy.
- Studies from the region have found that criminalizing pushes people to unsafe abortions that can lead to deaths, which largely affects women in poverty and teenagers.
- Restrictive measures in some Latin American countries like El Salvador have resulted in women who experience miscarriages being jailed.
State of play: Abortion in Brazil is legal in cases of rape, when carrying a pregnancy to term endangers the pregnant person's life, or if the fetus has anencephaly, a fatal condition where the brain and skull do not develop properly.
- The bill, which was fast-tracked in the lower chamber by Partido Liberal, the party of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, would eliminate the exceptions and establish that anyone who seeks an abortion around the second trimester would be charged with homicide.
- A conviction would carry up to 20 years in prison — twice as long as for people convicted of rape.
- The proposal has prompted mass protests in the country's major cities, including Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo.
What they're saying: Bia Galli, senior policy and advocacy consultant in Brazil for the global nonprofit Ipas, says that under the proposal, victims of sexual violence "could be condemned as murderers and their rapists could end up with a lower punishment."
- Girls under 14 years of age make up almost 60% of rape survivors in Brazil, so they would likely be especially impacted, Galli adds.
- That's why people in massive protests held since last week are using the slogan "criança não é mãe, e estuprador não é pai." (children are not mothers and rapists should not be fathers.)
Between the lines: The uproar over the bill has put abortion rights at the forefront of public discourse.
- "I think for the first time, many people realized we can have these rights removed in a snap," Galli says.
- Now, people are discussing the accessibility of abortion — advocates say even people who meet the criteria, particularly those from poor regions, are often turned away — along with sexual violence in the country.
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his top officials are having to openly speak up about abortion after scarcely mentioning it since being inaugurated last year, says Galli.
What we're watching : While debate was fast-tracked, a full vote on the bill itself has not been scheduled, but Galli says it could happen as soon as this week unless House leaders back down in response to the protests.
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has said he is against the proposed bill and would veto it if passed, but some of Lula's past vetoes have been overridden.
- If that happens, the bill would likely end up before the Supreme Court.
- The highest court has already been discussing a proposal to fully decriminalize abortion, but there is no set timeline for a decision to be handed down.
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