SAO PAULO — Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Sao Paulo on Saturday as protests sweep across Brazil in opposition to a bill that would further criminalize abortions. If passed, the law would equate the termination of a pregnancy after 22 weeks with homicide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill, proposed by conservative lawmakers and heading for a vote in the lower house, would also apply in cases of rape. Critics say those who seek an abortion so late are mostly child rape victims, as their pregnancies tend to be detected later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To rally opposition, rights\u2019 groups created the \u2018A child is not a mother\u2019 campaign that has flooded social media. Placards, stickers and banners emblazoned with the slogan have abounded during demonstrations. And viral visuals depicting women in red cloaks compare Brazil to Gilead, the theocratic patriarchy Margaret Atwood created in her dystopian novel, \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 10,000 people, mostly women, filled several blocks of Sao Paulo\u2019s main boulevard on Saturday afternoon, organizers estimated. It was the biggest demonstration yet, following events in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Florianopolis, Recife, Manaus, and other cities. Many wore green clothes and scarves, a common sight in women\u2019s rights mobilizations across Latin America.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Marli Gavioli, 65, has mostly refrained from protesting since demonstrations in the 1980s that called for the end of the military dictatorship, but she told The Associated Press she’s too outraged to remain home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t stay out of this, or I would regret it too much. We are being whipped from all sides, us women. It\u2019s past time we do something,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brazil only permits abortion in cases of rape if there is an evident risk to the mother\u2019s life or if the fetus has no functioning brain. Aside from those exceptions, Brazil\u2019s penal code imposes between one and three years jail time for women who end a pregnancy. Some Brazilian women fly abroad in order to obtain abortions.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n If the bill becomes law, the sentence would rise to between six and 20 years when an abortion is performed after 22 weeks. Critics have highlighted that would mean convicted rapists could receive lesser sentences than their victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Experts say that late access to abortion reflects inequalities in health care. Children, poor women, Black women and those living in rural areas are particularly at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe cannot be sentenced to prison for having suffered a rape and not receiving support and care,\u201d Talita Rodrigues, a member of rights\u2019 group National Front against the Criminalization of Women and for the Legalization of Abortion, said by phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of the 74,930 people who were victims of rape in Brazil in 2022, 61.4% were under 14 years old, according to a 2023 study of the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, an independent group that tracks crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor children, it is common for a pregnancy to be discovered only after 22 weeks,\u201d Ivanilda Figueiredo, a professor of law at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, said by phone. For example, they might not know that periods \u2014 a sign women aren’t pregnant \u2014 are monthly, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the protesters in downtown Rio on Thursday was Graziela Souza, a 25-year-old student who was sexually assaulted as a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think it\u2019s very important for victims to be present, as much as it hurts,” Souza said. “We must speak out and fight against it, because if we stay at home we are going to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Defenders of the bill have argued that abortions at a later stage were unimaginable when Brazil\u2019s penal code was adopted in 1940, which explains why there is currently no time limit. Had it been envisioned, they argue, it would be considered infanticide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bill\u2019s author, lawmaker and Evangelical pastor S\u00f3stenes Cavalcante, declined an interview request from the AP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, the lower house Speaker Arthur Lira rushed through a procedure to fast-track the bill in under 30 seconds, with many lawmakers reportedly unaware it was taking place. The maneuver allows the plenary to vote without the bill first clearing committees. Lira has been a top target for protesters’ ire. Signs on Saturday read \u201cWhat if it happened to your daughter, Lira?\u201d and simply \u201cLira out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conservative lawmakers proposing the bill \u2014 who protesters have dubbed \u2018the rape caucus\u2019 \u2014 are playing politics, hoping to boost turnout and support from Evangelical voters in October municipal elections, Fernanda Barros dos Santos, a political scientist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, said by phone. Abortion is a topic of high concern for Christians, who make up a majority of voters in Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe bill puts people who are progressive in a very difficult situation, because they lose votes by defending abortion rights,\u201d said Figueiredo, the law professor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva\u2019s government has been seeking inroads with Evangelicals, a key voting bloc for far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro<\/a>. Lula beat Bolsonaro in the 2022 presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe president sent a letter to Evangelicals in the campaign saying he was against abortion. We want to see if he will veto it. Let\u2019s test Lula,\u201d Cavalcante, the bill’s author, told local news outlet G1 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First lady Ros\u00e2ngela da Silva, known as Janja, slammed the proposal on social media Friday, saying women and girls who are raped need to be protected, not revictimized. Lula finally weighed in on Saturday, speaking at the G7 in Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I had five kids, eight grandchildren and a great-grandchild. I’m against abortion. However, since abortion is a reality, we need to treat abortion as a public health issue,” he said in a news conference. \u201cAnd I think it’s insanity that someone wants to punish a woman with a sentence that’s longer than the criminal who committed the rape.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although strict abortion laws have long been the norm across the predominantly Roman Catholic region of Latin America, feminist movements have gained momentum in recent years and delivered successive victories for abortion-rights campaigners. Colombia\u2019s Supreme Court decriminalized abortion in 2022<\/a>, following a similar breakthrough ruling by Mexico. Argentina\u2019s Congress legalized abortion<\/a> in 2020, and a few years earlier Chile rolled back a strict ban.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n