Reactions in Brazil after the tightening of abortion regulations

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

Brazil on Friday set new requirements for access to abortion for rape victims, including the obligation for medical staff to offer the woman to see the embryo or fetus by ultrasound.

Publicity

With our correspondent in São Paulo, Martin Bernard

Caregivers will now have to contact the police when rape victims request termination of pregnancy. Doctors must also inform victims of the risks of the procedure and the possibility of seeing the fetus, thanks to an ultrasound.

Abortion is only allowed in Brazil under three conditions : in case of rape, when the mother's life is in danger, or in case of serious congenital problems. But the Ministry of Health has just issued new conditions, the day after an abortion performed on a 10-year-old girl.

Senator Marta Suplicy, one of the forerunners in the fight for women's rights, said it was unacceptable that the Bolsonaro government wanted to turn the hospital into a police station. The intention, according to a gynecologist, would be to intimidate the victims and deter them from undergoing an abortion.

As for the former Minister of Health and deputy Alexandre Padilha, of the Workers' party, he has already tabled a draft decree to cancel the restrictions issued by the Bolsonaro government.

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• Brazil
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