The request was presented one day after the STF decided that terminating a pregnancy in the first three months is not a crime
+Progress! MEC will launch a course on homophobia for teachers
+Progress! MEC will launch a course on homophobia for teachers
The federal deputy and evangelical pastor João Campos (PRB-GO) filed, on Wednesday 30, an urgent request for the assessment of the Statute of the Unborn Child, a bill that privileges the rights of the fetus from conception.
The request was made one day after the First Panel of the Federal Supreme Court decided that having an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy is not a crime. The understanding was reached in the judgment of a specific case and, although other judges are not obliged to follow the decision, the result is considered an advance in the discussion on the decriminalization of abortion in Brazil.
With 29 articles, the Statute of the Unborn Child (PL 478/2007) establishes sentences of one to three years in prison for anyone who "culpably causes the death of an unborn child" and of six months to one year for "publicly apologizing for abortion or anyone who practiced it”, which virtually makes discussions on the subject in the country unfeasible. The proposal also became known as the "Rape Scholarship" because it provides assistance to women victims of sexual violence and makes access to legal abortion difficult even in cases of rape.
In the urgency model, the processing of the project does not require some regulatory formalities. If Campos' request is approved by the President of the Chamber, Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RJ), the vote on urgency will be placed on the agenda of this Thursday's 1st session.
The Chamber's reaction to the Supreme Court's decision was immediate, and on Tuesday the 29th the President of the House created a special commission that could include a clear rule on abortion in the Constitution. “Whenever the Supreme Court legislates, we will deliberate on the matter,” said Maia. The commission will discuss a proposal on maternity leave, but may end up tightening abortion legislation.
Coordinator of the Evangelical Front of the Chamber, Campos is the author of the controversial project that became known as the “gay cure”. The proposal, presented in 2011 (when it was in the PSDB) and archived in 2013, intended to change resolutions of the Federal Psychology Council that prohibit professionals from treating homosexuality as a disease and offering treatment to change sexual identity.
