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Abortion, A Right Denied To Girls Raped In Brazil

Development & Aid, Editors' Choice, Gender, Headlines, Health, Human Rights, Latin America & the Caribbean, Regional Categories, Women's HealthWomen's Health

Brazilian women demonstrated in São Paulo on Sept. 28, International Safe Abortion Day, which began to be celebrated in Latin America. The activists are promoting the campaign "Neither imprisoned, nor dead" against the repression of women's right to abortion, which affects even young girls who are entitled to this right by law. CREDIT: Rovena Rosa / Agência Brasil

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 31 2023 (IPS) - A total of 17,456 babies were born to girls aged 10 to 14 in Brazil in 2021. The annual figures are falling, but still reflect the plight of ruined childhoods and the failures of judges and doctors when it comes to the issue of abortion rights.

Data from the Information System on Live Births (Sinasc) of the Ministry of Health put the number of births to girls in this age group at 252,786 in the decade 2010-2019, compiled by the Feminist Health Network. That is an annual average of 25,278.

"This country does not take care of women. While cardiology has advanced a lot in Brazil, medicine dedicated to women, such as obstetrics and gynecology, remains stuck in the last century and resists updating. An example is the persistence of curettage, a practice abolished by the World Health Organization (WHO) more than 20 years ago." -- Helena Paro

This phenomenon has ceased to be invisible since 2020, when a string of scandals erupted involving girls prevented from having abortions by judges, hospitals and even authorities such as the then Minister of Women, Family and Human Rights, Damares Alves, during the government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).

In Brazil, abortion is legal in cases of rape, risk of death of the pregnant woman and anencephalic fetuses. It is also an unquestionable right of girls up to 14 years of age, since all of them are legally victims of rape and their abusers face sentences of eight to 15 years in prison.

But there were judges, even in the appeals courts, who ruled against the termination of pregnancy in girls as young as 10 or 11 years old.

At the base of this iniquity is the social criminalization of abortion, to which many religious people who identify "abortion as murder, as a repulsive crime" contribute, lamented Clara Wardi, technical advisor of the Feminist Studies and Advisory Center (Cfemea), based in Brasilia.

Religious morality infiltrates the State

"The stigma is strong, in the culture, in the family, even in schools. That is why girls are reluctant to choose abortion, even if it is legal. And to do it clandestinely is expensive and risky," she told IPS from Petrópolis, the city near Rio de Janeiro where she lives.

Many doctors argue that they are "conscientious objectors" and refuse to carry out abortions, which forces the girls to go on a "pilgrimage" in search of respect for their rights in other hospitals and even in the courts.

In spite of everything, a Cfemea survey conducted since 2018 found a growing public opinion against the criminalization of abortion. To the question "Are you for or against the imprisonment of women who terminate their pregnancy?", 59.3 percent said "against" in 2023, up from 51.8 percent in 2018.

Those in favor of imprisonment also increased, but less, from 26.7 percent to 28.1 percent, reflecting the ideological polarization during Bolsonaro's administration, which caused the proportion of "undecideds", those who answered "it depends on the circumstances", to fall from 16.1 percent to 7.6 percent.

There are "institutional barriers" to legal abortion, an issue in which the State ceases to be secular by subordinating its services to religious morality. The most emblematic case is that of an 11-year-old girl pregnant for the second time in the northeastern state of Piauí, who in late 2022 was denied an abortion by a public hospital and by the justice system.

Taken to a public shelter, she gave birth to her second child in March 2023. In other words, the State acted to remove her from her family, deny her the legal abortion she demanded and force her to give birth, Wardi said.

Damares Alves, a radical evangelical Christian who was Minister of Women, Family and Human Rights (2019-2022) during the far-right government of Jair Bolsonaro, mobilized her officials to pressure young pregnant girls to desist from getting an abortion, which was legal in their case because they are recognized as victims of rape. CREDIT: Fabio Rodrigues-Pozzebom / Agência Brasil

Ignorance

All this occurs in the midst of "collective failures" of society itself, such as insufficient information on reproductive rights and the possibility of choice for women, especially girls. There is no choice without access to health services, she argued.

"The criminalization of abortion invalidates the legality of the three situations. It is necessary to get out the information that abortion is legal in Brazil and to train qualified personnel to offer the service, without the need for legal action to obtain access," said Denise Mascarenha, executive coordinator of the group Catholics for Choice in Brazil.

The basic flaw is in the training of health workers, whether doctors, nurses or psychologists, who "do not recognize the violence involved in a pregnancy in girls under 14 years of age," which has been present in the Penal Code all the way back to 1940, said Helena Paro, professor of gynecology and obstetrics at the Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University of Uberlândia.

Universities, she said, do not train doctors to take care of rape victims, but good teaching would not be enough, anyway, she added. There is a lack of experience in practical assistance to patients, with a focus on women's human rights, said the physician specialized in gynecology and obstetrics.

In Brazil there are just over 60 medical centers offering legal abortion services – virtually nothing for a population of 203 million inhabitants in which women constitute a majority of 51.7 percent, she told IPS from Uberlândia, a city in the southern state of Minas Gerais.

Only about 2,000 legal abortions are performed each year in Brazil, where it is estimated that more than 400,000 illegal abortions are performed annually, resulting in many deaths as well as complications that overload hospitals.

Judge Rosa Weber seen passing her vote in defense of the decriminalization of abortion up to 12 weeks of gestation, in her last sessions as president of the Supreme Federal Court, before retiring on Oct. 2. CREDIT: Antonio Cruz / Agência Brasil

Medical care that discriminates against women

"This country does not take care of women. While cardiology has advanced a lot in Brazil, medicine dedicated to women, such as obstetrics and gynecology, remains stuck in the last century and resists updating. An example is the persistence of curettage, a practice abolished by the World Health Organization (WHO) more than 20 years ago," Paro commented.

She coordinates the Uberlândia Comprehensive Care Center for Victims of Sexual Assault (Nuavidas), opened in 2017 at her university hospital. Since 2021, the center has been offering abortion-related services via telemedicine, following an initial face-to-face consultation.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the online assistance, also facilitated by the efficacy of the abortion drug misoprostol, approved by the WHO and Brazilian health authorities.

Paro's activities led to an attempt to disqualify her by the Regional Council of Medicine of Minas Gerais, which accuses her of using her knowledge "to commit crimes" and not for the well-being of patients.

"It's all upside down," the physician replied, arguing that she cares for the health of patients "based on scientific evidence" that the Council denies.

The councils, one national and 27 regional (in each of the states), regulate medical practice in the country and several of them acted unscientifically during the COVID-19 pandemic, by approving, for example, the use of ineffective drugs such as chloroquine.

A conservative offensive in Congress threatens to further restrict the right to abortion in Brazil, contrary to what is happening in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay, which have decriminalized abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

A 2007 bill, called the Statute of the Fetus, gained renewed momentum last year in the lower house of Congress, at the initiative of ultra-conservative lawmakers. Its approval would prohibit any abortion, guaranteeing the fetus all the rights of a human being, especially the right to life, from the moment of conception.

Other measures to criminalize abortions even in the restricted circumstances currently permitted are under parliamentary discussion.

To counteract this conservative offensive, Brazilian women's rights movements launched the campaigns for decriminalization "Neither imprisoned nor dead" and "Girls, not mothers", the latter of which is being carried out throughout Latin America.

Feminists are also celebrating the ruling of Judge Rosa Weber, who recorded her vote in favor of decriminalizing abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy on Sept. 22, before leaving the presidency of the Supreme Federal Court and retiring 10 days later.

The highest court in the country, which has acted as a counterweight to the ultraconservative initiatives of the legislature and of the Bolsonaro administration, will ultimately decide whether to rule in favor of or against the legalization of abortion on any grounds up to 12 weeks.

Weber's vote is in line with the demands of the feminist movement, especially with the strong, early contribution of black women, in advocating "reproductive justice as a tool for social transformations," Wardi said.

"It is an important milestone in the fight for abortion rights in Brazil" and affirms "the legitimacy of the judiciary in ensuring women's human rights," Mascarenha said from São Paulo.

But the current circumstances are not very favorable to her argument, with a Congress dominated by conservative and ultra-conservative groups.

Also because the process within the Supreme Federal Court on the right to abortion is facing indefinite postponement since its new president, Luis Roberto Barroso, replaced Weber.

 

Kansas Judge Blocks New Abortion Pill Reversal Law And Old Clinic Regulations Statutes

A Johnson County judge has blocked certain restrictions on abortion in Kansas law, writing that the preliminary court proceedings show the statutes are unconstitutional.

The laws blocked by the judge are a longstanding set of abortion clinic regulations, including the 24-hour waiting period, plus a newly enacted requirement that providers inform patients about the medically disputed notion of abortion pill reversal.

Judge K. Christopher Jayaram issued the 92-page ruling on Monday in Hodes & Nauser v. Kobach, a case brought by abortion providers against state and local prosecutors and state health officials.

"The Court has great respect for the deeply held beliefs on either side of this contentious issue," he wrote. "Nevertheless, the State's capacity to legislate pursuant to its own moral scruples is necessarily curbed by the Kansas Constitution and its Bill of Rights.

"The State may pick a side and viewpoint, but in doing so, it may not trespass upon the natural inalienable rights of the people. In this case, the preliminary record before the Court demonstrates that the provisions at issue invade and unconstitutionally infringe upon Kansans' fundamental rights under Section 1 and 11 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights."

Judge K. Christopher Jayaram blocked the enforcement of abortion regulations on Monday as part of an ongoing lawsuit in Johnson County District Court.

The state is temporarily enjoined from enforcing certain public health laws on abortion while the case progresses toward a June 2024 trial. The injunction specifically covers the plaintiffs in the lawsuit and "other similarly-situated licensed health care providers."

Abortion providers won't have to comply with mandatory waiting periods, old mandatory disclosure requirements, new mandatory disclosure requirements and physician certification that patients have been advised of the disclosures. Additionally, non-compliance cannot be cited as "unprofessional conduct" in licensing.

The abortion pill reversal language was added to the Women's Right to Know Act in April when the Republican-led Legislature overrode the veto of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. Abortion providers sued in June, and Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach agreed to not to enforce the new law, which would have gone into effect July 1, until Jayaram ruled on the requested injunction.

"There is absolutely no credible evidence in the record, at this juncture, that the proposed 'reversal' theory endorsed in the Amendment is anything other than experimental and unproven," Jayaram wrote about the new law.

"This is a nightmare for women and a dream come true for the profit-driven abortion industry," said Danielle Underwood, a Kansans for Life spokesperson. "Women will pay the price for the deceitful practices of the abortion industry that consistently puts its own profits above all else."

The conservative legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing Kobach's office in, said the Kansas informed consent laws in question are "pro-life, pro-woman."

ADF attorney Caleb Dalton alleged that Planned Parenthood — which is one of the providers involved in the lawsuit, but not the only one — "challenged the law because it impacted their bottom line."

"Planned Parenthood has made it clear that its goal is to withhold information from women, bypass ultrasounds, and refuse to meet with women before an abortion," Dalton said. "Kansans are right to want to protect maternal health and safety and the lives of the unborn, and we will continue defending their interests."

The ruling comes after Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejected the so-called Value Them Both Amendment in August 2022, which would have undone a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court ruling that found the state constitution protects abortion rights.

"Today's ruling is a crucial step in achieving what Kansans emphatically supported in August 2022: abortion access without political interference," said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains.

Since then, Kansas has seen an influx of patients from other states that have banned or severely restricted abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

"Over the past year, Kansas has served as a regional provider of care, and these restrictions have only compounded a public health crisis," Wales said. "At the same time, lawmakers continually disregarded the will of Kansans by passing more restrictions on abortion care, including one that would have forced providers to lie to patients with dangerous information about so-called medication abortion reversal."

Jason Alatidd is a statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.Com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Court blocks Kansas abortion pill reversal law and clinic regulations

Court Sides With Catholic Clinic, Overturns Law Banning Abortion Reversal Hormone

Bella Health and Wellness employees gathered together. (Credit: Becket, via Bella Health and Wellness.)

NEW YORK – A federal court in Colorado has sided with a Catholic healthcare clinic in its challenge to a recent state law that forbids doctors and nurses from administering a natural hormone to reverse the effects of the first step of a medically induced abortion, which the state had implemented in part because of safety concerns.

In a ruling late Oct. 21, U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico ruled in part that regardless of the interests the state may have with the law, "Those interests cannot outweigh the plaintiffs' interest in protecting their First Amendment rights."

The case at hand is Bella Health and Wellness vs. Weiser, in which Bella Health and Wellness sued Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser over Senate Bill 23-190. In essence, the law prohibits offering or providing abortion reversal medication, and it took direct aim at pro-life medical centers in doing so.

Founded by Catholic mother and daughter and nurse practitioners Dede Chism and Abby Sinnett, Bella Health and Wellness offers pro-life medical care in Colorado. The specific part of the organization at the center of the lawsuit is its OB-GYN practice, which offers progesterone – a natural hormone – to reverse the effects of the first drug in a two-step abortion pill regimen.

Bella Health filed the lawsuit back in April, arguing SB 23-190 targeted religious healthcare clinics. The district court soon after granted the organization emergency relief, and the state then agreed that it will not enforce the law until the litigation was resolved.

After the Oct. 21 decision in their favor, Chism and Sinnett said they are "relieved and overjoyed."

"Some of these women have had abortion pills forced on them, and others change their minds," Chism and Sinnett said in an Oct. 21 statement. "We are relieved and overjoyed to continue helping the many women who come to our clinic seeking help."

Colorado now has 30 days to appeal the decision to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

SB 23-190 was passed by the Colorado legislature and signed by Governor Jared Polis on April 14.

In its first section, the law takes direct aim at what it calls anti-abortion centers, calling them the "ground-level presence of a well-coordinated anti-choice movement." It also describes abortion reversal medication as a "dangerous and deceptive practice that is not supported by science or clinical standards." It states that administering such medication is unprofessional conduct subject to discipline.

Progesterone has long been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for other uses, but it hasn't been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration for reversing a medication abortion. It's also not approved by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which has stated that "claims regarding abortion 'reversal' treatment are not based on science and do not meet clinical standards."

However, Mark Rienzi, the president and CEO of Becket, a religious liberty law firm, told Crux in a statement there is evidence affirming progesterone's safety. He cited studies presented in the case, as well as Bella Health's experience. That said, scientific studies and evidence of its use specifically for the purpose of reversing a medical abortion appears limited.

"The government agrees progesterone is low risk, and that doctors have been using it to help women get and stay pregnant for decades," Rienzi said. "As the evidence in the case makes clear, abortion pill reversal is supported by that history, by recent studies showing progesterone's effectiveness at staving off miscarriages, and by human case studies, animal studies, basic biology and Bella's own experience."

As for the recent ruling, Rebekah Ricketts, counsel at Becket, said in a statement that the ruling "ensures that pregnant women across the state will receive the care they deserve and won't be forced to have abortions against their will."

In 2022, Polis signed Colorado's Reproductive Health Equity Act, which guarantees access to reproductive care and affirms the rights of pregnant women to continue or terminate a pregnancy, and which prohibits public entities in the state from restricting or denying those rights.

Follow John Lavenburg on X: @johnlavenburg

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