amendment proposals show that threats are real

Proposals for amendments presented by members of the Committee of Jurists, which will prepare the report for the draft of the new Civil Code, confirm the risks of the document that is in the final process to be sent to the Federal Senate. The suggestions for change attempt to remove articles favorable to abortion. On the other hand, amendments were included that enhance the ideological character of the text. Committee members must consider the 199 amendments within a short period of time, as the report for the draft is expected to be delivered in early April. Such as People’s Gazette has already shown, the document that will guide the draft includes provisions that can affect parental authority, weaken marriage and promote gender ideology.

One of the suggestions presented is the removal of paragraph 1 of article 1.155-A, created by the commission, which considers pre-uterine and uterine life as “power”, contradicting what scientific studies point out and opening the door to abortion. Another tries to prevent the change to article 2, by asking for the removal of the expression in the draft report that states the defense of human life from conception only “for the purposes of this Code”, which could leave unborn children unprotected in the rest of the legal system. According to jurists interviewed in a report published last Friday (15), the inclusion of this limit is in line with Minister Rosa Weber’s vote in ADPF 442, which relativized the interpretation of this article of the Civil Code to vote in favor of the decriminalization of abortion until 12th week of pregnancy.

Another proposal is the deletion of a new article 4, which recognizes the “progressive autonomy of children and adolescents”. As recorded by People’s Gazette, the text may have implications for the advancement of gender ideology in Brazil. In addition to threatening parental power, theories of this type often facilitate sexual reassignment surgeries on minors.

Despite the possibility of the previous change, the text still has other articles that put parental authority at risk, such as 1,638, in which the father or mother can lose family power if they commit psychological or moral violence. There is no definition of what would characterize these types of violence, which means that the interpretation is broad and places the decision to assess whether or not there was violence on the part of the parents in the hands of judges. Article 1,691, which would allow children to demand accountability from their parents for the administration of assets, was also not resolved.

There are also amendments that make the text even more dangerous. A suggestion in relation to article 1.564-D provides loopholes for the recognition of stable unions between people prevented from marrying. If the amendment is approved, it may be possible to establish a stable union between parents and children or between siblings. In the current Civil Code there are impediments to stable incestuous unions.

The text has many other controversial points, which have already been addressed by People’s Gazette, with no visible solution in the proposed amendments added. Among them, the trivialization of surrogacy, the weakening of the family and the recognition of legal protections for pets. Once finalized, the draft report will be officially delivered to the presidency of the Federal Senate and assessed by the National Congress.