Judge suspends law that provided for clarification of abortion risks

The Maceió municipal law that forced health teams to advise pregnant women about the risk of abortion for the baby and the woman was suspended by judge Fábio Costa Ferrario, of the Court of Justice of Alagoas (TJ-AL). The decision was published this Thursday (18), following a request for an injunction proposed by the State Public Defender’s Office. The case must be analyzed by the full court — no date has yet been set.

According to the Public Defender’s Office, the municipality does not have the authority to legislate on the subject and points out that the law creates “non-existent obstacles to the enjoyment of the right to legal abortion, as well as to the right to life and dignity of women in situations of extreme psychological vulnerability” .

In the decision to suspend the law, published by ConJur, Judge Ferrario highlighted that the “absence of peculiar and restricted local interest” is evident, due to the fact that the issue of abortion is not limited only to the reality of women in Maceió. For him, the law “represents a fraud on the constitutional system of distribution of Skills”.

According to Ferrario, the standard “completely disregards the fragile and vulnerable situation in which a woman who is about to have an abortion finds herself.” He also highlighted that “the decision to have an abortion is difficult and delicate.”

“A woman does not choose to be raped, she does not choose to risk her life during her pregnancy and she does not choose to have a fetus with anencephaly. All of these situations are extreme and quite painful, and it is therefore mandatory for the State, in the broadest sense, to create and implement public policies designed to alleviate and protect them from this suffering and its undeniable consequences,” he said.

Ferrario mentioned that the State forcing pregnant women to watch videos of abortion surgeries and promoting incisive warnings about all possible side effects, “increases women’s psychological and emotional suffering, violating their fundamental right to health”.

“The State cannot take for itself the power to decide what a woman will see before having an abortion in cases that are permitted by Brazilian legislation”, highlighted the judge.

In Brazil, there is no “legal abortion”, despite the term being used by the abortion movement. Abortion is a crime, not punished in cases where the mother’s life is at risk and when the pregnancy is a consequence of rape, according to the Penal Code. The Federal Supreme Court also defined that abortion should not be punished when the child has anencephaly.

Law sanctioned

The state law, enacted on December 22 last year by the City Council, determines that “health establishments are obliged to provide guidance and information to pregnant women about the risks and consequences of abortion in cases permitted by law, when
they opt for the procedure in the public network”.

One of the articles mentions that, during meetings with pregnant women, the multidisciplinary team should “present, in a detailed and didactic way, including using illustrations, the development of the fetus week by week”, in addition to “demonstrating, through of videos and images, the surgical methods used to perform the abortive procedure”. An explanation of the clinical and laboratory tests that precede the abortion procedure was also determined; as well as the presentation of “all possible physical and psychological side effects resulting from abortion”.

Among the risks of abortion, the law cites “perforation of the uterus, when the abortion is performed by the aspiration method; rupture of the cervix; hysterectomy; uterine hemorrhage; pelvic inflammation; infertility; ectopic pregnancy; premature future birth; infection due to malcurettage performed; incomplete abortion; self-punitive behavior; eating disorder; among others.

In addition to the risks, the law also determines that pregnant women and the child’s family members be informed about the “possibility of postpartum adoption and present adoption programs that welcome newborns.”

One of the articles also points out that “if the pregnant woman decides to continue the pregnancy, but does not want to maintain the maternal bond, the health unit that is accompanying her must inform the Children and Youth Court, with the aim of assisting and promoting the adoption of the newborn by interested families”.