Brazil: Protests Against a Bill Criminalizing Abortion in Cases of Rape
Thousands of people protested on Thursday, June 13, in several cities across Brazil against a bill being examined by Congress that would criminalize abortion and impose sentences of up to twenty years in prison, even when the pregnancy results from rape.
In Brazil, abortion is only permitted in cases of rape, risk to the mother’s life, or fetal abnormalities. Outside of these exceptions, abortion is punishable by up to four years in prison. The new bill would further tighten this legislation by classifying any abortion performed after 22 weeks of pregnancy as “simple homicide,” punishable by six to twenty years in prison, which is double the penalty for rape.
This bill could have particularly severe consequences for young girls in Brazil. Of the 74,930 people who were victims of rape in Brazil in 2022, 61.4% were under 14 years old, according to a 2023 study by the Brazilian Public Security Forum, an independent group that tracks crimes. Many of these girls discover their pregnancies late, making abortion after 22 weeks a necessity in some cases. The proposed legislation would subject these young girls to harsher prison sentences than their attackers.
Thousands of people took to the streets in several Brazilian cities to protest against this bill. In Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Brasilia, and Florianopolis, demonstrators chanted slogans such as “Girls are not mothers.”
The right to abortion in Latin America
In contrast to what is happening in Brazil, some countries are making progress in protecting women’s rights: Argentina legalised abortion in December 2020, and in May 2023 Colombia extended the legal time limit for abortion to 24 weeks of pregnancy. These examples show that progress can be won through struggle.
Observatory on Violence against Women of Seine Saint Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis)
CGLU (Barcelone)
Palestine
Comores
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