Bill in Rio Grande do Norte State Demands Rape Victims View Images of Abortion

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In the week that religious groups gathered outside a hospital in Recife in an attempt to prevent a 10-year-old girl from undergoing a legal abortion, the Legislative Assembly of Rio Grande do Norte State intended to examine a bill that aims, in practice, to hinder legal abortion in the state and subject women to techniques that amount to psychological torture to abandon the termination of pregnancy.

“When an order is issued by a judicial authority allowing abortion, before performing it, the pregnant woman will wait a minimum period of 15 days in which she must be submitted to psychological care in order to discourage her from the concept of performing the abortion,” provides bill 028/2020, authored by deputy Kleber Rodrigues (PL).

In its Article 2, the bill determines the “demonstration of abortion techniques with explanations on the destruction, slicing, and suction of the fetus, as well as the fetus’s reaction to such measures.”

The text ignores the Ministry of Health regulations, which include protocols for the assistance of women who are victims of sexual violence. In addition, the bill violates the law by stating that judicial authorization is required for a woman to have access to legal abortion in the country.

The bill was scheduled to be included on Tuesday in the Committee on Constitution and Justice and Drafting’s (CCJ) agenda, chaired by Kleber Rodrigues. A number of protests from women’s movements in the state through social media forced the text to be removed from the debate.

Among the groups protesting were feminist organizations such as the World March of Women, in addition to an organized campaign on social media with the publication of videos calling for the text to be rejected.

“Since yesterday [Monday] we started a campaign on social media, and today [Tuesday] we heard the news that the bill was no longer on the agenda. But it could return at any time, so the fight continues so that it will be shelved,” says Brisa Bracchi, a student at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, which is part of the March of Women. “These are absurd proposals, not part of a psychological fostering that victims need, but rather an obstruction, embarrassment and judgment process of the woman’s decision.”

According to sociologist Renata Sapucaí, also a member of the World March of Women, with the government of President Jair Bolsonaro there is a favorable scenario to place setbacks in relation to women’s rights on the agenda.

“We made a serious mistake at the onset of the Bolsonaro government when we thought that the absurd statements of the Minister of Women, Family, and Human Rights, Damares Alves, were only a smokescreen to distract public opinion. The fruits of the attacks on human rights and the feminist movement are there, disputing public opinion, taking over the Legislative Assembly, and specifically attacking our lives,” she notes.

Questioned, Kleber Rodrigues said, through his staff that he considers changing points in the bill or even permanently removing it given the adverse reaction.

For an attorney, the bill contains unconstitutional passages

For Mariana de Siqueira, attorney and member of the OAB (Brazilian Bar Association) Human Rights Committee, there are likely unconstitutionalities in the bill. “This bill appears to be unconstitutional in its content by violating women’s freedom, psychological health, dignity, and autonomy to care for their bodies, particularly in a situation in which they are sustained by a judicial ruling that protects them once they decide to have an abortion.”

Despite being the only state in the country with a female governor, the Legislative Assembly of Rio Grande do Norte has only three out of 24 seats filled by women.

Moreover, the situation of violence against women in the state shows alarming statistics. According to data from the Brazilian Public Safety Forum, since the start of social isolation, there has been an 80 percent increase in reported rape in the state, compared to 2019.

Source: UOL

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