Less than 24 hours after removing the 21 week and six day gestation period for carrying out abortions considered legal, the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, went back and maintained the guidance established under the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
The term legal abortion is used for interruptions of pregnancies in cases provided for by law. According to the Penal Code, abortion cannot be punished when it is performed to save the pregnant woman’s life or in cases of rape. The STF also decided not to criminalize cases of fetal anencephaly.
The rule determined by the Bolsonaro government defined that, in these cases, abortions can be performed as long as the pregnancy lasts less than 21 weeks and six days. Last Wednesday (28), the Ministry of Health of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) withdrew this guidance, which in practice meant that pregnancy termination could be carried out at any time during pregnancy.
“If the Brazilian legislator, when allowing abortion, in the hypotheses described in article 128 [do Código Penal] did not impose any time limit on its implementation, it is not up to the health services to limit the interpretation of this right”, stated the technical note.
However, on Thursday afternoon (29), Minister Nista Trindade informed that, upon learning of the change, she decided to suspend the technical note.
According to the Ministry of Health, the document was suspended because it had not been validated in “all necessary spheres” and by the ministry’s legal consultancy.
The ministry also stated that the topic will be discussed later by the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, together with the Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Supreme Court.
Opposition reacted
Bolsonaro parliamentarians reacted after the case appeared in the media. Senator Damares Alves (Republicanos-DF) filed a petition with the Senate for the Minister of Health to review the understanding regarding the suspended technical note.
“Even after it was reported that the note was revoked, we want to reinforce that we will not accept any setback in the protection of life. The existence of the infamous note raised our alarm. There may be another attempt to authorize abortion”, stated the senator on X (formerly Twitter).
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro also spoke out, according to him the suspension of the note was a victory. “After great political and social media mobilization, the Lula government gave up on abortion up to 9 months,” he stated in X.
Federal deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG) filed a request for information questioning the practical effects of the note.
“I requested access to the entire administrative process that resulted in the preparation of this note so that we can analyze every detail”, added Nikolas on social media.
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