New Rio de Janeiro law requires public hospitals to display anti-abortion signs | Rio de Janeiro
A new law entered into force Rio de Janeiro All public hospitals and clinics that the municipal government are required to display Anti -miscarriages He carries messages like: “Did you know that the child who has not yet been born is ignored as hospital waste?”
Power rights activists look at the act as the latest example of the increasing direction across Brazil To restrict access to miscarriage in a country that already has some of the most restricted laws in the world.
In the largest country in Latin America, abortion is only legally in cases of rape, or when the life of a pregnant person is in danger, or if the fetus suffers from the brain, a fatal brain disorder.
However, in recent years, politicians, doctors and even judges have taken steps to prevent miscarriage even in those circumstances.
Brazilian Main Hospital for such procedures, in Sao Paulo, Stop submitting the termination After a decision of the city’s mayor, one of the supporters of former President Jere Bolsonaro, a strong defender to combat abortion.
A member of Congress from his party proposed a draft law that punishes abortion after 22 weeks – even in cases of rape or life risks – With up to 20 years in prison.
The Federal Medical Council, which is It is said that it was controlled by Bolsonaro.Last year, doctors were prevented from using The safest way the World Health Organization recommended For pregnancy for more than 22 weeks – a procedure that the Supreme Court in Brazil is later illegal.
“This is a direct result of Bolsonaro’s years in power,” said Deborah Deniz, an anthropologist, a professor at the University of Brazilia and one of the senior researchers and activists in the field of reproductive rights in the country.
It admits that the conflict between pro -abortion and anti -abortion situations is not new.
It was on Diniz itself Leave the country in 2018 after receiving death threats For her involvement in a campaign to push the Supreme Court to discuss the abortion of the twelfth week of pregnancy – a stopping reform in the end.
She says what has now changed is that the issue, which was confined at the federal level, has become “widespread” through local and regional authorities.
Deniz said: “The authoritarian governments in Latin America have a specific feature: not only disappear when their leader leaves his position. Polsonaro may disappear, but the forces compatible with him and his ideas occupied bodies like the Medical Council.”
Such attempts are more harmful given that legal abortion is not widely available throughout Brazil – Only 4 % of Brazilian cities have facilities and trained professionals to implement the procedureAnd this does not include even all the capitals of the state.
In the state of Goya, a 13 -year -old girl who was raped to the courts turned to the courts after being deprived of the legal abortion in the hospital, but the judge has banned any method that would stimulate the death of the fetus. A The Supreme Court ultimately authorized abortion.
In that state, the ruler – who is also Polsonaro – has signed a law that requires women who seek legal abortion first Listen to the heartbeat of the fetus.
The Rio signs law to combat abortion was approved last Friday by Mayor Eduardo Baise-who is not supportive in Polsonaro and is compatible with the current left-wing president, Luiz Inosio Lula da Silva.
The mayor’s decision is seen not to veto the law-which was proposed by three members of the far-right city-as a political step, as it is expected to be nominated for the position of governor of the state next year.
Under the law, hospitals that offer abortion must also offer signs that say: “You have the right to give your child to adopt anonymously … give life a chance!” And “miscarriage can lead to consequences such as infertility, psychological problems, infections and even death.”
Deniz said that the second sign was more problematic, as there is no scientific evidence that abortion, when it was securely and with medical support, causes any of these effects.
Deniz said: “This law is deviant because it depends on a false narration of” care “for women and girls, while in reality it is persecuting them,” Deniz said.
On Tuesday, the public prosecutor filed a lawsuit that argues that the law is unconstitutional and is asking the city government to prevent the signs. The case was not reviewed by the judge.
