Reactionaries accumulate defeats in debate on abortion – 02/04/2023 – Camila Rocha

Abortion legislation is seen as one of the main trenches of national conservatism. In the last eight years, certain that they would count on the support of the population, reactionaries on duty decided to double the bet by trying to prohibit the procedure under any circumstances. However, despite the prominence obtained during the Bolsonaro government, they only accumulated defeats.

In 2019, the self-titled “PEC of Life”, authored by fundamentalist senator Magno Malta, began to be processed.

The proposal had been forwarded four years earlier by Malta, at the time, advised by Damares Alves, former Minister of Women, Family and Human Rights, and current senator for the Federal District.

The text envisaged adding to Article 5 of the Constitution that the right to life should be guaranteed “from conception”.

Since then, the legislation has stalled in Congress. Until now.

Last Saturday, April 1, without managing to garner the support of three thirds of parliamentarians, the PEC was definitively shelved. The damage in the reactionary camp, however, was not restricted to Congress.

In 2020, a ten-year-old girl became pregnant after being raped by her uncle in Espírito Santo. The case fell into two of the three possibilities of abortion currently provided for by the Penal Code: pregnancy after rape and risk of death, since her body was not sufficiently developed to support a pregnancy.

However, on the day of the procedure, a group protested at the hospital door for the intervention to be cancelled. Due to the turmoil, the girl entered the hospital hiding in the trunk of a car.

Advisors to Damares Alves were identified as suspects for leaking confidential information that made the act at the hospital possible. In addition, the then minister would have acted behind the scenes to force the birth, disregarding the risks to the girl’s life.

His cruel and disastrous performance brought the reactionaries a major defeat in public opinion.

Research carried out by Datafolha in December 2018 and May 2002 registered a drop from 41% to 32% of the population that wants to prohibit abortion in any case.

At the same time, the numbers of those who believe that the right to abortion should be extended or allowed in any situation has risen. Today, around 26% of the population is openly in favor of advancing legislation in favor of the rights of girls and women.

The WHO (World Health Organization) estimates that unsafe abortion is among the top five causes of maternal death in the world. And most Brazilians know this.

According to a survey carried out in 2022, 84% of the population claims that clandestine abortion, carried out without adequate health conditions, is one of the main causes of death of pregnant women in Brazil.

In addition, 67% say that criminalizing the practice does not solve the problem, and 64% understand that abortion “is a matter of public health and rights”—only 3% believe they relate it to religion. It is high time for such perceptions to be reflected in the advancement of legislation.