Brazil’s Supreme Court has postponed a debate on decriminalizing early-term abortion, leading feminists and rights advocates to warn that the justices will be responsible for the deaths of more women and girls in the country.
Abortion in the country is punishable by up to three years in prison, and is allowed on only three grounds: rape, risk to the life of the pregnant person, and – following a 2012 Supreme Court decision – when the fetus suffers anencephaly, a fatal birth defect.
It seemed like change was finally on the horizon in September, when then Supreme Court president Rosa Weber, who was on the verge of retiring, opened a virtual plenary session and voted to decriminalize abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
