The body, reproduction and citizenship: the case of the judicial discourse on abortion Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo DLLE/PPGI/UFSC ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo 1
• Voluntary abortion is one of the most common gynecological procedures there is. • In global terms, around 81 abortions are take place per minute (KUMAR; HESSINI; MITCHELL, 2009). • In national terms, one in every five Brazilian women over 40 have had at least one abortion in their lives (CASTRO et al, 2014). • However, in several countries, including Brazil, abortion remains ilegal (even though extremelly common), which makes it particularly important to question why this exclusive female practice is still stigmatized, silenced and criminalized. ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo 2
• The experience of abortion transgresses three cultural female archetypal constructs of the ‘ feminine ’ : female sexuality solely for procreation, the inevitability of motherhood and instinctual nurturance of the vulnerable (KUMAR; HESSINI; MITCHELL, 2009). • The intentional interruption of a pregnancy destabilizes the notion of women as ‘ life givers ’, at the same time that it states women’s autonomy, both deeply threatening gestures to patriarchal morality. ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo 3
• 205.855 hospital admissions related to abortions were registered in Brazil in 2013. From this total, 154.391 were unsafe abortions, a number considered just the tip of the iceberg. According to estimates, the number of unsafe abortions is four or five times higher than the number of hospital admissions. ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo 4
• More than 20 million women risk their health and their lives every year in unsafe abortions (World Health Organization – WHO) • Estimates indicate that five million women are hospitalized every year as a result of complications related to unsafe abortions (WHO, 2008). Around 70.000 of them die as a consequence, aproximately 8 deaths per hour. ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo 5
Number of appellate decisions / time frame 11 appellate decisions on cases of ilegal abortion, produced between 1991 and 2014 by Santa Catarina’s State Court. Appellants Third parties – 9 appeals Pregnant woman – 1 appeal Public prosecutor – 1 appeal Appellants indicted for the following crimes Third parties defined by the Brazilian Penal Code Art. 125 – to perform abortion without the pregnant woman’s knowledge – 1 case Art. 126 - to perform abortion with the pregnant woman’s knowledge – 8 cases Pregnant woman Art. 124 – to perform self-abortion or to allow someone else to do it - 1 case 6 ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo
Third parties: plea nullification of the indictment due Bases for the appeals issues of materiality of the crime and identification of the offender Pregnant woman: plea nullification of the indictment due issues of materiality of the crime Public prosector: plea for the quashing of the acquittal produced by the jury Third parties Judicial decision by the State Court Appeals 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11: seven pleas for the nullification of the indictment for the crime of abortion denied Appeal 9: nullification of the indictment due to lack of evidence Appeal 12: extinção de punibilidade da perpetrante por prescrição do crime Pregnant woman (appeal 6): extinction of criminal liability on account of the limitation period Public prosecutor (appeal 13): acquittal maintained . 7 ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo
• The interruption of the pregnancy is clearly viewed as a criminal action: Abortion Abortive procedure; crime; felony; criminal action; abortion; induced abortion; abortive practice; interruption of the pregnancy; aborting. ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo 8
• The woman who aborts, however, is not necessarily represented as someone who performed a felony. She can even be framed as a victim and nominated in a ‘ protective ’ way: Woman who aborts Pregnant woman; adolescent; victim; child; appeallant; indicted; co-indicted. ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo 9
• In a different way, the third parties who performed the abortion, or aided it, are necessarily represented as having committed a crime, as people of ‘ doubtful ’ reputation : Third parties who performed the abortion, or aided it (quotation marks from the original) Indicted; felony agent; accused; offender; felon; accused; “ ´practitioner of santeria ” ; “spiritual consultant ” ; performer; abortionist; owner of a brothel; appellant. ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo 10
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