Abortion in case of rape is defended by 87% of Brazilians, research shows

In the country, 9 out of 10 Brazilians (87%) believe that women who are victims of rape should have the option of having an abortion, as provided by law. Still, 74% of the population think that the situations in which abortion is allowed in the country should be maintained or expanded.

In contrast, only 12% think abortion should not be allowed in any case — a figure that rises to 16% among evangelicals. Currently, abortion is only allowed in Brazil in cases of rape, fetal anencephaly or risk of death for the woman.

The data are from the survey “Perceptions on the right to abortion in case of rape”, carried out by the Patrícia Galvão Institute in partnership with the Locomotiva Institute. 2,000 people aged 16 and over were interviewed throughout Brazil between January 27 and February 4 of this year. The margin of error is 2.2 percentage points.

The survey also indicates that 64% say that no one has an abortion because they want to, but because they need to, especially if that girl or woman has been a victim of sexual violence.

And, among women, 3 out of 4 (75%) say they would like to have the option of having an abortion after being raped, a number that goes to 2 out of 3 (64%) when people who declare themselves to be evangelicals are considered.

In Brazil, according to data from the Brazilian Public Security Forum, a woman was raped, on average, every ten minutes in the last year. This is equivalent to 56,100 women, including minors (considered rape of the vulnerable), raped in 2021.

These numbers, however, should be underreported, warns the forum, as often the woman or girl lives with the aggressor and does not report him. According to research by the Instituto Patrícia Galvão, the aggressors are in the overwhelming majority known to the victim (71% in the case of rapes of girls, and 69% for adult women).

Also according to a survey by the Instituto Patrícia Galvão, 64% of respondents (equivalent to 122.6 million Brazilians) said they knew a woman or girl who had already been a victim of rape. Sexual harassment has already been suffered by 16% of the interviewees, which represents 14.1 million Brazilian women.

The percentage of survey participants who say they are afraid or very afraid of being raped also draws attention. It’s 95%.

In Brazil, sexual violence also has an unequal character in society. According to the survey, 57% consider that black girls and women are the main victims of rape, compared to 36% of white women. The number jumps to 65% when considering the responses of only the black people interviewed.

In addition, the occurrence of clandestine abortion is seen as one of the main causes of death of pregnant women in Brazil for 84% of the people interviewed.

For Jacira Melo, executive director of Instituto Patrícia Galvão, the survey data show that the majority of Brazilian society agrees with the right to abortion in case of rape and, above all, how the criminalization of abortion in other situations ends up penalizing poor women more. .

“The survey revealed that for 77% of Brazilians, the poorest women are the ones who suffer the most from the practice of having an abortion in a precarious condition, and that for two-thirds of society, criminalizing the practice does not solve the problem”, he says.

“This is relevant when we see the current political context of trying to reduce the accesses already guaranteed by law”, he adds.

The research also indicates that the perception of what is an act of sexual violence is still lacking in Brazilian society. Many see certain actions that can be framed by law as rape as situations that do not constitute aggression.

For example, for 21% of respondents, a man having sex with a girl under 14 even if she authorizes it is not considered rape (in law, the understanding is that it is).

For the gynecologist and obstetrician Ana Teresa Derraik Barbosa, medical director and technical manager of the NGO Nosso Instituto, it is still unacceptable in the country that hundreds of women die every year due to clandestine abortions.

“Many people do not know that any girl under the age of 14 who becomes pregnant can have an abortion, because it is considered rape of a vulnerable person. This understanding of the law is what will make the difference in whether she has this consented right or not”, he says.

Another point indicated by the survey is that the majority do not know which way to go when experiencing sexual violence — such as whether it is necessary to first seek a health or police service, for example —, and 8 out of 10 women who responded that they had been Rape victims said they did not seek to file a complaint.

“Many of the girls and women do not know that it is not necessary to file a police report in order to have the right to a legal abortion after a rape”, explains Barbosa.

According to a survey also carried out by the Patrícia Galvão Institute, in 2018, 66,000 rapes were officially registered with the police, but the estimate by the Brazilian Public Security Forum of the same year is that only 7.5% of rapes are reported to the authorities, which means an estimate of more than 880,000 rapes a year in the country.

According to IPEA data, 7.1% of rapes result in pregnancy. The projection, therefore, is that there are more than 50,000 new pregnancies due to rape in Brazil each year, but just over 1,600 perform legal abortions.

“It is unbelievable to think that more than 48,000 women have legitimately chosen to continue with their pregnancy. So we know that there is a lack of access, which is a fact”, he says.