São Paulo, Brazil – Brazil's lower house of Congress last week fast-tracked the urgent discussion of a bill put forward by conservatives which would equate abortion with homicide and restrict legal abortion to 22 weeks of gestation, including in cases of rape.
In Brazil, abortion is currently legal only in cases of rape, the mother facing risk of death, or when the fetus is anencephalic -- a condition that severely affects the baby's nervous system. The proposed legislation would restrict the timeline in these cases to 22 weeks instead of at any stage of pregnancy, as the law currently allows.
