CV NEWS FEED // Congress in Brazil is debating a bill that would punish doctors who perform abortions after 22 weeks as guilty of homicide, while mothers may face significant leniency, depending on the circumstances.
Abortion is illegal in Brazil except in cases of rape or incest, to save the life of the mother, or in cases of anencephaly. These abortions were only allowed in the early stages of pregnancy, until 2022, when international definitions of abortion changed.
Before 2022, most major medical textbooks defined abortion as “the removal of a non-viable fetus from the uterus,” which meant that the abortion occurred before 20 weeks. But in 2022, the World Health Organization redefined as abortion as, “the expulsion of the fetus, regardless of the stage of pregnancy, through the purposeful interruption of pregnancy, without the intention of producing a live birth.”
After the definition change, abortions could occur during all 9 months of pregnancy in the case of rape, according to the Brazilian prolife organization Brasil Sem Medo (Brazil Without Fear.)
The bill, PL 1904/2024, also called Projeto de Lei da Vida (Life Project of Law,) prevents abortions after 22 weeks, thus is restoring the original legal restrictions on abortion, even in case of rape, to the first half of the pregnancy, as had been the case in Brazil until the past two years.
The bill punishes abortions after 22 weeks as homicide because a baby can live outside the womb after 22 weeks. An abortion at 22 weeks often requires the doctor to inject the baby’s heart with potassium chloride, inducing a heart attack. Thus the baby dies before delivery.
Brazil banned veterinarians from using this method in 2012, due to the painfulness of the procedure, though it is still permitted for use during abortions. As observed by local pro life advocates, the bill punishing abortion after 5 months gestation would ensure that unborn babies have the same rights as pets in Brazil.
Projeto de Lei da Vida states that the mothers who undergo a late-term abortion should be judged on a case-by-case basis, since they may undergo the procedure due to desperation. In some cases the sentence may be lifted altogether. Mothers under the age of 18 will also not be sentenced as guilty of homicide because they are minors.
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