Deputy proposes greater penalties against abortion; text is being processed in the Chamber

Representative Messias Donato (Republicanos/ES) presented a bill, PL 5371/23, which intends to increase the penalties against abortion, provided for in the Penal Code.

In Brazil, according to the Penal Code, abortion is a crime, with minimum sentences ranging between one and three years, and a maximum of four to 10 years, depending on the article. However, there is no punishment when the pregnancy is the result of rape or there is a risk to the mother’s life. In 2012, the STF defined that the abortion of anencephalic fetuses should also not be punished.

In the proposal, which is being processed in the Chamber of Deputies, Donato proposes increasing the minimum prison sentence to 12 to 16 years, and the maximum, to 30 years.

According to the parliamentarian, the objective of the proposal “is to reinforce, through so many actions against life, that the practice of abortion is a crime that takes away the right of countless babies to come into the world”.

“We are witnessing a very serious offensive from the left to allow murder at any cost and we, parliamentarians who defend life, have a duty to act to prevent this advance. Brazil has already taken a stance against abortion many times and Parliament will certainly continue to follow the will of the majority of the people. Life yes, abortion no!”, Donato told People’s Gazette.

The project joins dozens of other proposals in the Chamber, which attempt to prevent the decriminalization of abortion in Brazil, and await approval from federal deputies.

The most advanced proposal, which can prevent abortion, is the PL that creates the Unborn Child Statute. The pro-life bench managed to file an emergency request at the end of September for the project to be voted on in the plenary. It now remains for the President of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), to put the matter on the agenda.