Ministry remakes booklet on abortion and minimizes risks of teenage pregnancy

The Ministry of Health revised the booklet that stated that “all abortion is a crime”, but minimized the risks of teenage pregnancy in the new version of the text.

In the first edition, in June, the guide contradicted the Penal Code by saying that there is no legal abortion in the country, but abortion with exclusion of illegality – that is, without the possibility of punishment to the woman – and provoked criticism from specialists and legal entities. of women and health.

The text was removed, but the booklet maintained distorted information and the recommendation that the procedure not be performed after the 22nd week of gestation or when the fetus weighs more than 500 grams.

The ministry also included an excerpt that minimizes the risks of teenage pregnancy – without technical references -, and suggests that other factors be taken into account before abortion in addition to the “isolated age” of the child or adolescent.

Over two pages, the booklet states that studies that mention there is a risk to life for pregnancy in children under 15 are inconsistent and that the “latest evidence” indicates that pregnancy in young women is not an automatic cause of risk to life. , and each case must be analyzed individually.

The inclusion of the passage takes place after social mobilization so that an 11-year-old girl who was a rape victim in Santa Catarina could have an abortion. The child was coerced into giving up the abortion by the judge and the prosecutor in the case. The procedure was only carried out after the Federal Public Ministry intervened.

as showed the Sheet, an 11-year-old girl from Teresina (PI) is pregnant for the second time after being raped. She gave birth a year ago, also after being a victim of rape and not having the legal abortion she was entitled to.

As with the first version, the revised document was published on the website of the Secretariat of Primary Health Care, responsible for its elaboration, without any disclosure by the ministry. The update was made available on Friday (9).

In the text published on the secretariat’s website, the secretary of Primary Care, Raphael Câmara, states that “the claims sent by Febrasgo [Federação Brasileira das Associações de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia] and by CFM [Conselho Federal de Medicina] were accepted”.

Gabriela Rondon, a lawyer and researcher at the Instituto de Bioética Anis, an NGO in favor of the decriminalization of abortion, believes that the booklet remains problematic, with legal misunderstandings and several statements that are not based on health evidence.

“One of the most serious parts of the update changed for the worse, to maintain that there is not necessarily an increased risk in pregnancies of children and adolescents, with several statements without references”, he says.

“It is clearly an attempt to react to the social mobilization ‘Child is not a mother’, which had great repercussions after the case of an 11-year-old child from Santa Catarina who was almost prevented from having a legal abortion.”

The text that accompanies the booklet on the website of the Secretariat of Primary Care states that the guide “updates the data regarding teenage pregnancy, presenting recent evidence that shows some contradictions and inconsistencies in relation to the quantification of the risk of death”.

The Ministry of Health booklet also condemns “feticide”. The text says that the delivery of the baby for adoption should be an alternative to “preserve the life of the fetus, regardless of the circumstances” in which the pregnancy took place.

“One should not understand the outcome of completing embryonic and/or fetal death as the ideal in the effort to try at any cost to kill the child in the womb”, he says.

In June, the Brazilian Center for Health Studies and 110 civil society organizations sent a statement to the ministry in which they point out that the term “feticide” is not appropriate and that “inducing fetal death” —technically correct— is part of the procedure. possible to perform an abortion above the 22nd week of pregnancy in cases of sexual violence.

For Instituto Anis, the guide reinforces the stigma that abortion is cruel, even in cases provided for by law. The entity assesses that the document also errs in maintaining in the text the “conscientious objection” as a total right of doctors – which, in practice, limits the right of women and children to legal abortion – and the prohibition of telemedicine.

According to the secretary, the material now does not recommend carrying out the abortion by telemedicine so that it is “accompanied in person by a doctor in the hospital environment, where devices and resources are available for possible complications”.

The review of the document took place after entities linked to women’s health and rights rebutted the information and called the STF (Federal Supreme Court) in June to have the booklet immediately revoked.

Faced with the questions, the Ministry of Health promoted a public hearing to discuss the text, but the event was scheduled only a week in advance and most of the guests validated the government’s position.

In July, Minister Edson Fachin, rapporteur of the action in the STF, demanded explanations from the federal government and stated that there seems to be a “pattern of systematic violation of women’s rights” in relation to abortion in the cases provided for by law.

Abortion is authorized in Brazil in three situations: pregnancy resulting from rape, risk to the woman’s life and fetal anencephaly. The new WHO (World Health Organization) guideline on the subject, from March, does not establish gestational limits for the procedure.

Obstetricians point out that pregnancy during adolescence poses a series of risks for both the pregnant woman and the fetus, including the death of the mother and the early birth of the baby. Therefore, they explain, pregnancy is always considered high risk.