MP files lawsuit against the defense of the girl who had an abortion in SC

The Public Ministry of Santa Catarina (MP-SC) filed an ongoing investigation against the two lawyers who acted in the case of the 11-year-old girl, almost 7 months pregnant, who ended up having an abortion. One complaint accused the professionals of leaking confidential images of the audience, which led the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) and abortionist NGOs to press for the death of the baby, even if it was already viable outside the womb.

When contacted, the MP-SC did not want to give further details of the decision on the grounds that the process was confidential.

The case gained national commotion after the repercussion of a video of an audience of the baby’s mother with the judge Joana Ribeiro Zimmer, who was head of the 1st Civil Court of the Comarca de Tijucas (SC), and the prosecutor Mirela Dutra Alberton, from the MP- SC. In the images, the magistrate asks if the girl would accept to continue with the pregnancy, which was already almost in the 7th month, so that the baby had a better chance of surviving outside the womb, and the girl agrees with the proposal.

On June 22nd of this year, the National Council of Justice (CNJ) filed an administrative proceeding against the judge, after the national justice inspector Luis Felipe Salomão accepted a complaint. In the document opening the investigation, the minister stated that the judge’s decisions would have been responsible for “institutional violence” which would have “re-victimized” the girl.