Justice Rosa Weber
On 6 October 2023, the Supreme Court of Brazil had begun to debate a change in the abortion law that would have allowed abortion on request in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Rosa Weber (above), the then president of the Court and rapporteur of the case, voted in favour of decriminalisation at the start of the voting. The following week, however, due to her age, she had to retire from the Court. Her retirement was followed by postponement of the debate. Under the current law, abortion is punishable by up to three years in prison, and is allowed on only three grounds: rape, risk to the life of the pregnant woman, and – following a 2012 Supreme Court decision – when the fetus has anencephaly, a fatal birth defect.
SOURCE: Open Democracy, by Andrea Dip, 5 December 2023 ; Foto: Folha, 27 September 2023, by Pedro Ladeira/Folhapress, PODER