Sexual abuse, abortion and public health in Brazil: when moral judgment accentuates inequities - Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem

Sexual abuse, abortion and public health in Brazil: when moral judgment accentuates inequities |

Here is an academic-political editorial that aims to call on the scientific field to reflect on the dangers of decisions regarding the right to abortion under moral rules, since there is no evidence that such a perspective translates into practices of care, protection of childhood and gender equity - elements that are so urgent and necessary for nursing. Being even more concrete, this editorial addresses - and, in advance, repudiates - Bill 1,904/2024, presented to the Federal Chamber of Deputies, with the aim of modifying the Brazilian Penal Code.

These changes equate abortion during pregnancy over 22 weeks to homicide, regardless of the circumstances, while also criminalizing abortion by healthcare professionals. The approval of this Bill would annul legislation that provides for the right to abortion in cases where pregnant women’s life is at risk, cases of fetuses diagnosed with anencephaly and, as the central point of this editorial, in cases of rape for a significant part of the population. Furthermore, by equating abortion to the crime of homicide, a rape victim who underwent abortion procedures could be sentenced to a prison sentence of up to 20 years, whereas rape perpetrators could be sentenced to a prison sentence of six to ten years.

[...]