Of all human capabilities, rationality associated with sensitivity is what delights me most and, I confess, is one of the most difficult for me to exercise. This week, once again, we were able to practice reflection without ceasing to be moved by the experiences that, being those of others, also touch us (something so unusual in recent times).
The decriminalization of the termination of pregnancies of anencephalic fetuses (therapeutic anticipation of birth), allowing the woman to decide whether or not to continue the pregnancy, is a sign of hope in difficult times.
Regardless of whether we are men or women, we all benefit from the result of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) vote, even if many disagree. After all, if we punish women less as a result of this decision, we will make everyone more human: with less suffering and more rights.
One of the incredible moments of this process was the speech by Minister Carlos Ayres Britto (who had already presented us with sensitively incisive reflections on the occasion of the approval of civil unions for same-sex couples) in clear agreement with many feminists who fight for the decriminalization of abortion – Even though what was voted on in those days is not necessarily the abortion of anencephalic patients, after all, according to experts, in this case there is no potential human life in the fetus to characterize abortion.
The Minister pointed out exactly what was at stake. Even with the most conservative Catholics and fundamentalist evangelicals opposed to the outcome of the trial swearing to be concerned about the fetus, or the supposed child, the “x” of the issue is different. He said the same thing that feminists have been teaching us for a long time and we still have a hard time understanding. According to this authority, "if men became pregnant, the termination of an anencephalic pregnancy would have always been authorized." The activists sing in their public actions: “if the Pope were a woman, if the Pope were a woman, abortion would be legal and safe, it would be legal and safe”. It is this critical and intelligent dimension that sets the tone for the progress we have made with this decision. We got rid of some heavy pre-medieval remains, but there are still others that weigh on our shoulders.
In this sense, we have to, to use a very evangelical word, watch. We cannot be so naive as to believe that the concern of these Christians is really the lives of children, or potential children. Have you ever imagined that if that was the concern, there wouldn't be big problems for them to support mass adoption by alternative families? Or, even, religious authorities would never cover up the sexual violence committed against children in sacristies around the world; there would be no priests against the use of condoms and much less pastors preaching against secular education in schools.
As federal deputy Jean Wyllyns well recalled in one of his television interviews, the censorship of sexuality and non-heterosexual gender or so-called “not normal”, along with the persecution of African-based religions, are the themes of the preachings of many pastors and priests in their search for more faithful converts, that is, for greater collection of money (power) for their institutions. Therefore, they are not pro-life; they are much more “come to me”, as my grandmother used to say, “and nothing to your kingdom”. But the saddest and most worrying thing is that this appeal works. There is much more bad faith than solidarity among the seductive contemporary religious polemics.
The minister also stated that "Martyrdom is voluntary. Whoever wants to accept the pregnancy until its final consequences, should do so. No one will prohibit it." The memory of martyrdom being voluntary, a pleonasm for the Christian logic that sanctified so many men and women in history, fits very well in times of Christian authoritarianism (which continues to generate violence and death among us). The situation is so serious that we need to state the obvious, to guarantee the minimum: rights and freedoms.
*Tiago Duque is a sociologist and has experience as an educator in different areas, from teacher training to street social education. Milita no Identidade – Fight for Sexual Diversity Group. He likes to think and act with those who want to do something new, in search of another possible world.
