and both in italy and brazil (and south america) the catholic church power was-is quite dramatic

but in both cases, and all over the world, we’ll never stress enough another important fact: this is also a “class” issue, rich vs. poor, since rich people/women can and will always have abortions in a medically safe & caring environment, despite being “illegal”

and no matter how many stringent laws, parliamentary commissions or patrolling police a state could establish, abortions will happen anyway – even if it’s an emotionally painful situation for any woman

IMHO, those are realities that require any modern society to avoid bigotism, false ideology or supposedly faith-based assumptions and instead to openly deal with the issue by legalizing abortion here & now

The Portuguese language version of this article is already published at Global Voices em Português.

I’m counting on your participation and opinions on the ensuing debate there too.

Best,
Daniel Duende

Fabio: thank you for your compliments. I think there’s a lot of reflection that must be done about this issue, not only in Brazil, but in the whole Latin America.

Luís Guilherme: in fact you have a point, if we think in a very plain and simplistic way. But things are never this simple in the real world. What is being said by some women’s rights activists, besides the fight to legalize abortion in Brazil, is that the CPI is part of a patriarchal stratagem to intimidate not only women that made abortions in the past, but to silence activists and groups that fight for these rights. So, it’s not only about law enforcement. It’s about using the punitive powers of the government to tip the scales of a political struggle.

Wagner Moura: These numbers are accepted by many official agencies, including the WHO and the Brazilian Ministry of Health. And I agree with you when you say that being abortion illegal, it’s hard to make a real picture of the abortions made in Brazil. Many abortions probably go unnoticed by the statistics, which would make the real figures bigger (not smaller) than this. Can you elaborate more on why do you think the numbers should be smaller?

Chrystal: Abortion is a complex issue. Not only personal, not only economical, not only social, not only ethical or moral. It’s a complex context where you can’t simply extract a partial facet without losing the picture. It’s a very interesting statement that women have no real choice when they simply can’t raise the child they’re bearing. But one can’t say that’s the whole picture. Some women could, but just don’t want to, raise a child. Others surely couldn’t, in face of their economical and social situations, raise a child, but they passionately want and try to. So, in an economical point of view, it’s not a matter of choice. But ultimately, when you take a look at the whole picture, one can’t say it’s not a matter of ultimate choice. And maybe a choice that could not be taken from the individual.

Best,
Daniel Duende