RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A PoderData poll conducted May 22-24, 2022, shows that 59% of the Brazilian population opposes the possible decriminalization of abortion in the country. Since the last survey in January, the rate has fluctuated upward by four percentage points within the margin of error.
The percentage in favor of free abortion is 24%. This is the same percentage as in the last round. Those who don’t know are 17% – up from 20% five months ago.
In Brazil, abortion is considered a criminal offense unless the pregnancy is due to rape or the mother’s life is in danger. In 2012, the STF (Federal Supreme Court) decriminalized the procedure even in the case of an anencephalic fetus.
In Latin America, the practice is legal or decriminalized in six countries in the region, according to data from the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Global Abortion Policies Database, a WHO (World Health Organization) database.
On May 14, abortion advocates took to the streets in several U.S. cities to protest the Supreme Court’s possible overturning Roe v. Wade, which established abortion as a constitutional right in the United States in 1973.
In early May, the digital newspaper Politico published a preliminary version of Justice Samuel Alito’s report stating that the majority would consider overturning the decision.
The poll was conducted by PoderData, a company of the Poder360 Jornalismo group, using its resources. From May 22 to 24, 2022, the data was collected through calls to cell phones and landlines. 3,000 interviews were conducted in 301 cities in the 27 states of the Federation. The registration with the TSE is BR-05638/2022. The margin of error is two percentage points. The confidence interval is 95%.
Among men, 62% oppose legalizing abortion. Among women, that number drops to 56%.
Those living in the Midwest (65%) and those with a high school education (68%) are most opposed to decriminalizing the procedure. And the oldest (31%) or higher education (37%) is the most favorable.
BOLSONARISTS
Those who approve of President Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) government are more opposed to making abortions legal in Brazil (82%) than the overall average (59%). Among the group that opposes the federal administration, this percentage drops to 42% but exceeds the number in favor (32%).
Bolsonaro opposes abortion. In February, he criticized the Colombian Constitutional Court’s decision to decriminalize the interruption of pregnancy until 24 weeks of pregnancy. At the time, he said he would fight “to the end” for the lives of children.
His primary political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), also spoke out against the procedure, having said days earlier – and been criticized for it – that the case should be treated as a public health issue.