Brazil's Zika-related abortion debate sparks backlash
Health
Brazil’s Zika-related abortion debate sparks backlash
Alarm in recent months over the Zika virus, which many researchers believe can cause microcephaly in the fetuses of pregnant women, has prompted calls, both inside and outside Brazil, to loosen a near-ban on abortion in the world’s most populous Catholic country. But the pro-choice push is creating a backlash, particularly among the families of disabled children. The growing national debate is also spilling out into the courts, and will likely intensify in the months to come.
Abortion is not the answer to the Zika virus, we need to value life in whatever situation or condition it may be.
Sergio da Rocha, the president of the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops
In Brazil, abortion is illegal except in cases of rape, danger to the mother’s life or anencephaly, another birth defect involving the brain—although in practice wealthy women in urban areas have relatively easy access to safe abortions in private clinics, while the poor often rely on dicey back-alley procedures. Brazil and several other Latin American nations experiencing outbreaks have urged women to put off pregnancies. But critics say the recommendation is impractical in a region where access to sex education, contraception and pre-natal care is precarious and most pregnancies remain unplanned.
The most logical solution would be to revise the penal code relating to abortion, decriminalizing the practice. The legislation is three-quarters of a century old.
A recent editorial in the daily Folha de S. Paulo
