Rebeca Mendes, the first Brazilian woman to demand a legal abortion
in the Brazilian Supreme Court, holds a green scarf (LEGALIZAR O ABORTO)
as she and other women protest during a public hearing on abortion rights,
in São Paulo, 28 November 2024. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli/File Photo
The Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee in Brazil’s lower chamber of Congress approved a bill with a vote of 35-15 last week to ban abortion in Brazil, including the three grounds that are currently legal, i.e. for anencephaly (where the baby is born without parts of the brain and skull and cannot survive), rape, and when the woman’s health is at risk.
Conservative and anti-abortion supporters of Jair Bolsonaro have a large majority in that committee. The proposal aimed to establish that the “right to life” applies from the moment of conception, aiming to allow unborn children (sic) to “enjoy the right to life”. Whose responsibility this will be was unstated.
The bill will go next to a special committee that will decide whether it should be taken further, which was set up for that purpose; their discussions are expected to take place early next year.
Progressive lawmakers criticized the bill, calling it a secular setback and an attack on women’s rights. “It’s a provocation. It is shameless and perverse to say that this is a defence of anyone’s life,” said Samia Bomfim of the Socialism and Liberty Party.
SOURCE: Reuters, by Maria Carolina Marcello & Anthony Boadle, 27 November 2024.