The Supreme Court of Brazil began analyzing on Friday an appeal calling for the decriminalization of abortion up to the twelfth week of pregnancy, with abortion being authorized only under rare exceptions in the largest country in Latin America.
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The trial opened in virtual format, with each of the eleven judges required to submit written arguments for their vote online.
But it was suspended at the request of a magistrate and will be resumed in face-to-face plenary session on a date to be fixed later.
The country’s highest court must decide concretely whether women who decide to abort during the first three months of pregnancy should be criminally prosecuted.
According to the legislation currently in force, which dates from 1940, voluntary termination of pregnancy is a crime. It is only permitted in cases of rape, risk to the mother or serious malformations of the fetus.
The President of the Supreme Court, Rosa Weber, was the only one to have voted before the suspension of the virtual trial. She spoke out in favor of the decriminalization of abortion.
According to the magistrate, “the criminalization of voluntary termination of pregnancy (…) infringes on the freedom and dignity of women”.
“We have been silenced. We were unable to actively participate in the deliberations on a subject that particularly affects us,” she also affirmed in her reasoned vote over 103 pages.
Women “know how to decide what is best for their lives, trust our decisions,” the NGO Anis reacted on Friday, welcoming the magistrate’s vote.
Rosa Weber wanted to cast this vote before her retirement in October.
The trial will resume in the presence of the other judges, during public sessions at the headquarters of the Supreme Court in Brasilia.
If a majority of judges decides to decriminalize abortion, women who have aborted less than twelve weeks of pregnancy will no longer be able to be subject to legal proceedings, as will the health professionals involved.
But unlike the legislation in force in other countries, this does not mean that it will be possible to have an abortion within the public health system.
The trial was opened following an appeal from the left-wing Socialism and Liberty party (PSOL), which in 2017 requested recognition by the Supreme Court of the constitutional right to voluntary termination of pregnancy.
The subject is particularly sensitive in Brazil, a very religious country, notably with a growth in evangelical churches.
According to a recent survey by the Datafolha institute, 52% of Brazilians are opposed to abortion while 45% are in favor.
Abortion is legal in only a few Latin American countries, Uruguay and Cuba as pioneers, then more recently Colombia, Argentina and Mexico.
In several countries it is permitted under certain circumstances, such as rape or health risks, while outright bans apply in Venezuela, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.