Kennedy: Congress cannot force a woman to have a rapist's child.
Journalist Kennedy Alencar criticized the approval by a special committee of the Chamber of Deputies of a proposal that prohibits abortion even in cases of rape; "In the current context, further hardening the current legislation would be a crime by Congress against women. There is no law that prevents a woman from carrying a pregnancy resulting from rape to term or that puts her life at risk if she so desires for personal reasons, including religious ones. Therefore, it makes no sense to take away a right that already exists, albeit quite limited and rigorous, from women," says Kennedy.
247 - Journalist Kennedy Alencar criticized the approval by a special committee of the Chamber of Deputies of a proposal that prohibits abortion even in cases of rape.
Read an excerpt from the analysis:
"Given the avalanche of setbacks in the country, the risk of yet another one occurring is not negligible, which would be a tragedy for women, who already suffer greatly from rape and the difficult and painful decision to terminate a pregnancy due to the risk to their lives. In this sense, the stance taken by the Speaker of the House is a good sign."
In a recent development, the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) ruled that abortion of a fetus without a brain (anencephalic) is not a crime. In the world, there are countries that allow for the termination of pregnancy more broadly than Brazil. Our legislation is quite conservative. Brazil should follow the opposite path. However, the balance of political power in the country and in Congress prevents progress in this direction.
In the current context, further tightening existing legislation would be a crime against women by Congress. There is no law that prevents a woman from carrying a pregnancy resulting from rape to term or that puts her life at risk if she so desires for personal reasons, including religious ones. Therefore, it makes no sense to take away a right that already exists, albeit a very limited and strict one, from women.
Generally speaking, any expansion of the possibility of terminating a pregnancy would not force any woman to have an abortion. This prohibition especially affects the poorest women, who already suffer greatly from clandestine abortions in precarious conditions.
But the fundamental issue now is to avoid theocratic delusions from a conservative faction in Congress. In the case of the vote in the special committee, it is symbolic that 18 men decided that a woman should be forced to put her life at risk or accept a pregnancy resulting from rape. Only federal deputy Erika Kokay (PT-DF) voted against. As the popular saying goes, "what's good for the goose is good for the gander."
Read the full text at Kennedy's Blog.