On Thursday (13) night, many Brazilian cities saw feminist protests against Bill 1904/2024, dubbed the Child Pregnancy Bill, which equates abortion to homicide. It provides for 20 years of incarceration for people who make abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy, a situation mainly seen among girls who were sexually abused.
The Front Against the Criminalization of Women and For the Legalization of Abortion led protests in 17 Brazilian cities and engaged in mobilizations in many other places.
The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (Progressive Party), scheduled the urgent vote on Wednesday night (12) without agreement between the many Chamber caucuses and without announcing the number of the bill being voted on. In just 23 seconds, he declared the symbolic vote closed, allowing the text to be released for a vote only in plenary, without evaluation by the relevant committees.
Brasília, Brazil’s capital city
The protests in Brasília happened in the Republic’s National Museum and gathered hundreds of people. According to Thaísa Magalhães, Women's Secretary of Brazil’s Central Workers' Union of the Federal District (CUT-DF, in Portuguese), the protests show that women listened to the call of many feminist and social organizations. “Women expressed their solidarity with the urgency of going to the streets to say no to the Child Pregnancy Bill," said Thaíssa.
According to Brazilian pedagogue Leila Rebouças, the discussion of this agenda in the Chamber of Deputies represents a negotiation over women's bodies. She also points out that in election years, such as 2024, when municipal elections will be held, conservative agendas are, once again, debated in Congress. "This is yet another strategy to put these agendas forward to negotiate votes," she said.
In Brasília, the protest against the bill recalled that, every 14 hours a girl or woman is raped in the Federal District / Photo: Eline Luz
São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city
In São Paulo, the demonstration took place at the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP, in Portuguese) on Paulista Avenue, and brought together hundreds of demonstrators. According to Ana Paula, an activist with the National Front Against the Criminalization of Women and For the Legalization of Abortion, the demonstrations are women’s response to the attack on a right already legally guaranteed.
"It was a moment of revolt for women and all pregnant women about the urgency for the Bill 1904/2024, which was done without any decent consultation with parliament, because it wasn't even announced. In 23 seconds, Lira has ruined the lives of thousands of girls and women who have access to a legal right guaranteed by the Penal Code, which dates back to 1940: abortion in cases of sexual violence and risk to life. This is truly revolting and led to this movement," she says.
Protesters took Masp's outdoor area to demand safe access to abortion / Photo: Junior Lima @xuniorl
Rio de Janeiro
At Cinelândia, downtown Rio, people gathered to defend the right to legal abortion, including for pregnancies over 22 weeks.
Cinelândia was full of protesters against Bill 1904/2024 / Rodrigo Amodei / Mídia NINJA and JUNTAS Collective
Edited by: Thalita Pires
