The bill that equates the penalty for abortion to the crime of murder continues to cause controversy and protests in the Chamber of Deputies. On Wednesday (19), a group of activists gathered at the door of the parliamentary building to protest again against Bill 1904/2024, which had its urgency approved last week by the plenary amid controversies.
The new demonstration comes after the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (Progressive Party) said on Tuesday night (18) that he would leave the issue to be considered by a committee in the second half of the year. Parliamentarians critical of the bill and segments of civil society have been calling for the bill to be shelved or removed from the agenda.
Retired teacher and former Federal District congresswoman Lúcia Carvalho said she decided to join the protesters because she considers Bill 1904 to be an "aberration". "What is at stake are the lives of children and women who are being criminalized in this bill through a longer sentence than that of the rapist himself. It's an abuse. If we have a law from 1940 that allows abortion under certain circumstances, why should we go backwards? We only agree to move forward."
Bill 1904 equates abortion with the crime of murder when it is carried out after 22 weeks of gestation. Therefore, rape victims can be arrested if they resort to the practice. The bill establishes a sentence of up to 20 years in prison for the woman, while rapists are sentenced to a maximum of ten years in prison, according to the Brazilian Penal Code.
"The current situation [of Brazil’s legislation] without this bill already puts women's lives at risk because it still doesn't guarantee safe abortion through the [Unified Health System] SUS [for all]. This bill only worsens the situation, endangering women's lives even more, and, as absurd as it sounds, it values rapists," says public servant Sidney Roberto Nobre Júnior, who joined the protest in front of the Chamber of Deputies building. "Equating abortion with murder is a slap in the face of all women and society as a whole, which is why, as a male, I have to be here alongside them in defense of life."
Black movement militants also joined the outcry against Bill 1904. Santa Alves, a retired worker and a member of the Union of Black Women and Men for Equality (Unegro, in Portuguese), draws attention to the fact that Black people are the most punished when looking at illegal abortions. "We know that the majority of girls who die from abortions are Black. That's a statistic. So, we're here to support this movement and say 'no' to this setback. We don't want to go back to the Middle Ages, when women were burned for taking a different stance."
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 70 million abortion procedures, both safe and unsafe, occurred worldwide between 2015 and 2019. According to a study carried out in partnership among researchers from the Brazilian Association of Collective Health (Abrasco, in Portuguese), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz, in Portuguese) and Columbia University, Black women are 46% more likely to have an abortion, considering all ages, compared to white women. The research was published in 2023.
Edited by: Martina Medina
