Brazilian Women Rally Against Bill Strengthening Abortion Ban

In a hurry? Here’s a quick summary…

• Thousands of women protested in Brazil against a proposed bill that would classify abortions after 22 weeks as homicide, with penalties harsher than those for rapists, and potentially criminalizing abortions for rape victims after 22 weeks.
• The bill, backed by evangelical lawmakers, has faced significant backlash from feminist groups, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and the public, leading to delays in its progression and calls for revision.

Thousands of women took to the streets on Saturday to protest a bill progressing through Brazil’s conservative Congress that would classify abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy as homicide, imposing prison sentences of six to twenty years. 

Demonstrators marched along Sao Paulo’s main Paulista Avenue, holding banners rejecting the proposal, which they decried as the most repressive attack on women’s reproductive rights in decades.

The protesters, spanning all ages—including retirees and children—filled the streets with chants of “A child is not a mother, a rapist is not a father.” 

In Brazil, abortion is currently permitted only in cases of rape, fetal deformation, or when the mother’s life is at risk. 

However, if the bill, supported by evangelical lawmakers, becomes law, abortions by rape victims after 22 weeks would be considered homicide.

Read Also:

Gachagua Clarifies Political Shift, Stirring Tensions Among Ruto’s Allies

Azimio MPs Ordered to Suspend Foreign Trips and Follow Directives as Finance Bill 2024 Battle Intensifies

Comedian Fred Omondi Passes Away After a Tragic Accident

Feminist groups have vehemently criticized the proposed legislation for imposing harsher penalties on women than those given to rapists. 

They argue that the changes would particularly harm children who are abused by family members and often lack the support to recognize themselves as victims, discovering their pregnancies late.

Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned the bill as “insane,” pledging that his government would defend the current laws that punish rapists and treat victims with respect. 

“It is insane to want to punish a woman with a greater penalty than the criminal who committed the rape,” Lula stated at a news conference during the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Italy.

Protests erupted on Thursday in Brazil’s largest cities after the lower chamber of Congress voted to fast-track the bill, limiting debate on the proposal. 

Facing backlash that rape victims seeking abortions could face harsher punishment than rapists, the bill’s author, Sostenes Cavalcante, announced plans to propose stricter sentences for rape, which currently carry a maximum of ten years in jail. 

Cavalcante, an evangelical pastor and member of former hard-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s party, has seen angry reactions on social media potentially slowing the bill’s progress.

Speaker Arthur Lira, responding to the public outcry, is no longer planning to put the proposal to a vote in plenary soon, with expectations that its text will be revised. 

Passage of the bill in the upper chamber appears uncertain, as right-wing senators hold less influence there, and Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco has emphasized the need for committee debates.

First Lady Rosangela da Silva also criticized the bill, asserting on social media that “Congress should be working to guarantee access to legal and safe abortions through the national health system SUS.” Brazil’s restrictive abortion laws currently drive many women seeking to terminate pregnancies to resort to unsafe, illegal abortions, resulting in dozens of deaths each year.