Brazilian Ministry of Health revokes ordinance on abortion

The Brazilian Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, revoked an ordinance on abortion, this Monday, 16, signed in the Bolsonaro administration.

The norm foresaw the need for doctors to notify the police in the case of abortion due to rape.

The measure was created in September 2020. At the time, critics said that the ordinance violated the forecast of secrecy in consultations, and carried the risk of leading women to illegal abortion, as it could cause embarrassment and a feeling that the rape victim was the investigated, not the aggressor.

In her inauguration speech, the current Minister of Health said that she would revoke ordinances and technical notes that, for her, go against “science”, human rights or reproductive sexual rights.

Currently, abortion is allowed in three cases in Brazil: when the pregnancy is the result of sexual violence, if there is no other way to save the pregnant woman’s life or in cases of fetuses with anencephaly.

The ordinance that is now in force is from 2017. The norm also establishes procedures to justify and authorize the termination of pregnancy, but does not provide for the need to notify the police about the crime of rape.

With information from Revista Oeste