On February 8, public defender offices in 14 states, through their Center for the Promotion and Defense of Women’s Rights, issued a technical note criticizing the body’s role in fetal care. The protests were inspired by revelations stop in the way And from Portal Catarinas that a public defender was appointed to represent the interests of the fetus in a case against a 12-year-old girl, pregnant after rape in Piaui, who sought an abortion.
The document states that such action “lacks any legal, constitutional and conventional support, which is totally incompatible with the constitutional mission assigned to the Office of the Public Defender”. It also says that the appointment of a guardian for the fetus “implies the continuation of a forced pregnancy, voiding the right to a legal abortion” — which, depending on the circumstances, “may amount to torture or cruel or degrading treatment” “prohibited by the Constitution.
The 19 public defenders who signed the note emphasized that it is the ombudsman’s responsibility to “work to ensure that girls, children or adolescents are treated as subjects of the law and have access to quality information, so that they can, in a free and informed way, prevent pregnancy resulting from sexual violence.” or may decide on maintenance”. They also argue that appointing a guardian for the fetus also has no reason to exist, since the pregnant woman’s consent is the only condition for a legal abortion and the fetus has no “viability”. Be on the team or court.”
The states represented in the demonstration are Bahia, Sierra, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraíba, Paraná, Piauí, Rio de Janeiro, Rondônia, Roraima, São Paulo, Tocantins and Santa Catarina. The latter was also the latest scene of serious violation of the rights of a rape victim, as the document recalls. In June 2022, Intercept and Portal Catarina showed that Judge Joana Ribeiro Zima, an 11-year-old child, was pregnant after the rape and persuaded her mother to forgo a legal abortion in favor of the fetus.
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