Thousands of Brazilians they took to the streets yesterday Saturday to protest against a draft law which is being promoted in the country’s conservative Congress and if approved will equalize the abortions after the 22nd week of pregnancy with manslaughter and will establish sentences of between 6 and 20 years in prison.

With banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the draft law, a crowd of women and men marched down the main avenue Paulista in Sao Paulo, denouncing the proposal to impose the most regressive and repressive measures on women’s reproductive rights in decades.

People of all ages, including girls, boys, pensioners, chanted slogans such as “no child can become a mother, a rapist is not a father”.

Today, abortion is legal in Brazil only in cases of rape, malformation of the newborn, or danger to the life of the expectant mother.

If the text promoted by evangelical lawmakers becomes state law, abortions of rape victims would be considered homicide after the 22nd week of pregnancy.

Brazilian feminist organizations are condemning the fact that the proposed sentences are heavier than those faced by rapists in the country.

They also point out that the text will have a terrible impact on girls who are sexually abused, especially by family members. These children, who often do not understand what has happened to them and do not have the support that victims of sex crimes need, often discover that they are pregnant very late.

The center-left president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva he described the draft law as “foolish” and emphasized that his government means to defend the existing legislation, which punishes rapists and treats victims with respect.

“It is foolish to want to punish the woman with a heavier sentence than the criminal who committed the rape,” Lula said on the sidelines of the G7 in Italy.

The first demonstrations took place the day before Thursday in Brazilian urban centers after the Lower House decided to push the bill through fast-track procedures, which limit dialogue.

Responding to strong criticism that rape victims may face harsher sentences than rapists, the Sosthenes Cavalcantsthe drafter of the bill, assured that he would also propose that the crime of rape attract heavier penalties (up to 10 years in prison today).

Mr. Kavalkants, an evangelical pastor, belongs to the far-right ex-president’s party Zach Bolsonaro.

Angry reactions, especially through social networking sites, may slow the venture down. The president of the Parliament Arthur Lyra he said he does not foresee a plenary vote being scheduled anytime soon and discounted that its provisions will be amended.

In the Senate, where the right and far right do not have as much influence as in the House, the approval of the text is expected to meet more serious obstacles. For the president of this body Hondrigo Pachecothe bill should first be considered at the committee level.

The first lady Jozangela da Silva criticized the text and emphasized through social networking sites that “Congress should consider ways to guarantee access to legal and safe abortions through the national health system.”

Brazil’s already very restrictive legislation forces women who want to terminate pregnancies to resort to illegal procedures, which often have complications. Dozens of deaths are recorded every year due to such cases.

In Brazil, a girl under the age of 13 is raped every 15 minutes, according to official statistics. Around 20,000 girls under the age of 14 become mothers each year in the Latin American nation.