Brazil has little access to abortion and campaigns ignore the issue – 09/30/2024 – Power

Abortion, one of the hottest topics in politics this year, was ignored by almost all mayoral candidate campaigns in capital cities.

According to a survey by Sheetthe word “abortion” appears only in three government programs out of the 66 consulted, which include the top three in the 22 capitals covered by Datafolha or Quaest surveys.

In Brazil, abortion is only permitted in three situations: rape, risk to the woman’s life and anencephaly of the fetus. In none of the cases is there a gestational time limit for carrying out the procedure.

Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), candidate in São Paulo, and Kleber Rosa (PSOL), who is running in Salvador, propose the creation of a “municipal protocol for the care and reception of legal abortion, complementary to that of the SUS (Unified Health System), with the expansion of professionals with specific activities to provide care”. The wording of the proposal is identical in both programs.

The topic was brought up for debate Sheet/UOL this Monday (30), but there was no response. Nunes did not answer which hospital in the municipal network offers the late abortion procedure. In his response, the emedebista only said that the law is being complied with and explained the interruption of service at the unit, but did not mention where pregnant women can access the procedure in the case of more advanced pregnancies.

In the latest Datafolha survey, published on the 27th, Boulos had 25% of voting intentions, which puts him in a tie with the current mayor, Ricardo Nunes (MDB), with 27% of voting intentions.

In the Quaest survey released on the 17th, Rosa was in third place in voting intentions, with 4%. The current mayor, Bruno Reis (União), leads with 74% of voting intentions. Second place, Geraldo Júnior (MDB), has 6%.

In São Paulo, reproductive rights and women’s health do not feature in the campaign of the three main candidates — Nunes, Boulos and Pablo Marçal (PRTB), with 21% of voting intentions.

In the government program, Nunes only says that “we will pay special attention to women’s health through the expansion of prevention, treatment and family planning services, in addition to educational campaigns on reproductive rights”, without being more specific.

Marçal, who does not mention the word abortion in the government plan, proposes “policies to prevent early pregnancy”, without saying what they would be.

None of the candidates, including Boulos, mentioned Vila Nova Cachoeirinha Hospital. The unit was a reference in the state of São Paulo for legal abortion above 22 weeks of gestation. The service was closed by the Nunes management in December 2023.

Attacks on the right to legal abortion do not appear directly in government programs, but nods to the anti-abortion movement are present. In Cuiabá, candidate Abílio Brunini (PL) proposes “encouraging the policy of donating babies in the interest of abortion.” In his proposals for maternal health, he only mentions the completion of work on the city’s maternity ward and the vague notion of promoting “quality maternal health care, with prenatal care and assistance during childbirth.”

The candidate is in second place in the Quaest survey, with 26% of voting intentions, technically tied with Lúdio Cabral (PT), who has 20%. In the lead is Eduardo Botelho (União), with 33%.

Botelho mentions issues related to motherhood in a brief point, which is to expand the “maternal and child monitoring service”.

Cabral, on the other hand, makes a detailed plan, which includes guaranteeing “prenatal, childbirth and postpartum” care, with information on humanized birth, layette for low-income pregnant women and newborns, access to preventive exams for newborns, creation of an “observatory on the main indicators related to infant and maternal mortality” and guaranteeing access to assisted reproduction. It is the most robust proposal of those observed in the survey.

In general, candidates pay little attention to the topic. In Curitiba, Luciano Ducci (PSD) and Ney Leprevost (União) do not mention the words abortion, pregnancy or pregnant woman in their programs. Eduardo Pimentel (PSD) suggests the creation of a home for homeless pregnant women, the only proposal related to the topic. The first two are tied for second place, according to a Quaest survey, with 15% and 12% of voting intentions, respectively. Pimentel leads with 36%.

In other capitals in the South region, proposals regarding reproductive rights and maternity are timid. In Florianópolis, of the three main candidates, only Marquito (PSOL) mentions any project related to the universe of female reproductive health: the resumption of Rede Cegonha to monitor pregnant women and mothers, “treating child and adolescent pregnancy with a multisectoral approach”. Dário Berger (PSDB) intends to build maternity hospitals, but does not talk about pregnant women specifically, and Topázio Neto (PSD) does not touch on the topic.

The psolista and psdbista are in a technical tie for second place, with 14% and 15% of voting intentions, respectively, according to Quaest. Topázio leads with 43%.

In Porto Alegre, Sebastião Melo (MDB), who leads the Quaest poll on September 17th with 41% of voting intentions, does not mention plans for abortion — nor for pregnant women, pregnancy, gestation and maternity, words that do not appear in the program of government.

Juliana Brizola (PDT), who has 17% of voting intentions, does not either. Just like PT member Maria do Rosário, in second place with 24%.

Another PT member who avoids the topic is Natalia Bonavides, who is running in Natal, third place with 18% of voting intentions. She does not talk about abortion and mentions, without giving details, that she intends to take actions to reduce maternal mortality. Obstetric violence is a target of “information campaigns for the general population” and “professional training actions”.

In the city, Carlos Eduardo (PSD) leads, with 41% of voting intentions. He does not mention the word abortion, pregnant woman or pregnancy in the government plan. Paulinho Freire (União), second place with 24% of the votes, also does not mention any of these words.

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