After, in little more than a year, three major Latin American countries have made progress on the decriminalization of abortion, the right and left in Brazil say they consider the chances of Congress changing the current rules remote this year — either way.
The termination of pregnancy is the subject of heated discussions in the House and Senate, but in recent legislatures any change has been blocked by both sides.
Bolsonaristas and the religious benches block any advance in liberalization. On the other hand, and despite the profusion of projects presented, they are not able to implement a hardening of the law — there is resistance from the left and from parliamentarians who say they consider the current legislation satisfactory.
This Monday (21), the Constitutional Court of Colombia ruled that no woman can be tried for an abortion performed until the 24th week of pregnancy. The decision was taken by five votes in favor and four against, removing the procedure from the list of offenses in the Penal Code — when carried out within that period.
The change is seen as a historic achievement for the feminist struggle in a country with a Catholic majority where, each year, around 400 women were sentenced to 16 to 54 months in prison for terminating a pregnancy.
The decision makes Colombia the top country in South America, in terms of population, to decriminalize the procedure — and the third major Latin American nation to do so in just over a year, along with Mexico and Argentina.
“I don’t think Arthur Lira [presidente da Câmara, PP-AL] will pay for this wear and tear, I don’t see the possibility of voting this year”, says the president of the evangelical bench, deputy Sóstenes Cavalcante (União Brasil-RJ).
Despite the impassioned speeches, the same position is reaffirmed by other parliamentarians, in a reserved character.
The Brazilian Congress today has a conservative majority and the Executive, under Jair Bolsonaro (PL). It is led by a president who is openly in favor of tightening abortion laws, but there are three factors that prevent the Bolsonarista agenda from advancing on this issue.
Despite being in the minority, the left managed in this legislature to contradict expectations and bar the main proposals of the conservative sector on the subject — among them the inclusion in the Constitution of the understanding that life begins at conception and the institution of the so-called Statute of the Unborn.
The projects are led by parliamentarians such as Bolsonar deputy Chris Tonietto (União Brasil-RJ). Among other things, they prohibit abortion even in the case of rape and create a grant for women who become pregnant after rape.
THE sheet could not speak with Tonietto this Tuesday (21).
“There is a restraint in the women’s bench to setbacks like this. But there is a witch hunt in various projects, trying to prevent access to current legislation. (PSOL-SP).
A second point is that 2022 is the last year of the current legislature. Generally, more controversial projects focus on the beginning of the parliamentary term.
Finally, the electoral process also contributes to the issue not being on the priority list of party leaders. In addition to candidates wanting to avoid controversy close to the election, Congress usually empties itself in the second half of election years.
According to parliamentarians heard by the report, there may even be some discussion or even voting in committees, but the issue will hardly be taken to the plenary. In the Senate, President Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) also indicates that he will not discuss the matter — especially proposals from the conservative side.
Unlike countries that, in the wake of the sexual revolution, in recent decades have gained more liberal legislation for the voluntary termination of pregnancy, Brazil has had the same criminal law for abortion for 80 years. The only change took place eight years ago — and through legal, not legislative, means.
In 1940, a decree by the then president Getúlio Vargas started to provide in the Penal Code cases in which abortion would not constitute a crime, if practiced by a doctor: rape and risk to the life of the pregnant woman. Since then, the law punishes with one to three years in prison the woman who performs the procedure outside the legal provision.
In 2012, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) determined that the interruption of pregnancy of anencephalic fetuses does not constitute a crime.
Colombia is also the first Latin American country in which decriminalization took place under a right-wing government, such as that of Iván Duque, although the decision did not come from him, but from the courts. The president, in fact, criticized the decision. “We are facing a decision that concerns the entire Colombian society, and five people cannot propose something so atrocious for the nation,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. According to him, the change could transform abortion into a contraception mechanism.
Bolsonaro also spoke out with criticism of the neighboring country’s court. “May God watch over the innocent lives of Colombian children, now subject to being snuffed out with the consent of the State in their mothers’ wombs without the slightest chance of defence,” he wrote on Twitter. “As far as I’m concerned, I’ll fight to the end to protect the lives of our children.”
Then, he returned to the social network to reinforce his position and attack opponents. “In Brazil, the left celebrates and applauds […] It is about the life of a baby who already has touch, smell, taste and who already hears the voice of his mother. What is the limit of this dehumanization of an innocent being?”
In the Mexican case, in which President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador also opposed the Judiciary’s position, decriminalization is national, but the states regulate the appeal in local parliaments. Argentina passed through Congress a law on abortion only by the woman’s will until the 14th week of pregnancy, which can be performed in public clinics and hospitals, free of charge.
In Latin America, abortion is still allowed and legalized in Cuba, Uruguay and Guyana.
