In three specific situations in Brazil, induced abortion is not punishable by law: in cases of risk to the pregnant woman’s life; when the pregnancy is the result of rape; and if the fetus is anencephalic.
[1][2] In these cases, the Brazilian government provides the abortion procedure free of charge through the Sistema Único de Saúde (Unified Health System).
[4] The base penalty for a third party that performs an illegal abortion with the consent of the patient, ranges from one to four years of detention, with the possibility of increase by a third if the woman comes to any physical harm, and can be doubled if she dies.
The Convention grants the right to life to human embryos, "in general, from the moment of conception", and has a legal status on a par with the Constitution in Brazilian Law.
[20] The 2005 survey also found considerable ignorance of Brazil's law on abortion, with only 48% of the physicians knowing that it is legal to save a woman's life and widespread confusion about fetal age limits.
"Two folk medical conditions, "delayed" (atrasada) and "suspended" (suspendida) menstruation, are described as perceived by poor Brazilian women in Northeast Brazil.
Culturally prescribed methods to "regulate" these conditions and induce menstrual bleeding are also described, including ingesting herbal remedies, patent drugs, and modern pharmaceuticals.
[22] [citation needed] In a survey made in Ribeirão Preto (SP) in 2004, 70% of the Brazilian doctors responded that they didn't support the decriminalization of abortion in the country.
[26] Following the impeachment of former leftist President Dilma Rousseff, A survey of the Instituto Patricia Galvão, in 2017, showed that 62% of Brazilians opposed the idea of the legalization of abortion, while 26% supported the measure, another 10% could not answer.
[30] The anti-abortion view is also followed by the majority of federal deputies, which makes it virtually impossible to attempt to legalize abortion through the Legislative Branch.
President Lula da Silva and Health Minister José Gomes Temporão decried his statement, and the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil disowned it, saying that the mother was certainly not excommunicated and there was insufficient evidence to show that any member of the medical team was.
[38][39][40][41] In July 2004, a Brazilian federal judge issued a preliminary ruling that waived the requirement for court authorization for abortions in cases of fetuses with anencephaly.
[20] A 2005 study found that 53% of doctors had performed an abortion in the case of a severely deformed fetus, even though that was not allowed by Brazilian law without a court order.
The Catholic Church and Brazilian Pro-Life movements criticized the decision of the court, saying that even with a terminal illness, children with anencephaly also had the right to life.