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It is estimated that 500.000 illegal abortions occur in Brazil every year among women aged 18-39 years old and as a result of unsafe terminations more than 2000 women die annually.
A ten-year-old girl safely aborted on Monday following a confrontation between Bolsonaro's supporters and feminists groups over her right to termination after her uncle raped her.
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teleSUR's correspondent in Brazil Nacho Lemus described that Sunday was a historic day for the feminist struggle as women used their bodies as a barrier outside of the Integrated Health Center Amauri de Medeiros (CISAM) in the municipality of Recife to protect the child from aggressive Bolsonaro's followers, some of them lawmakers.
On Monday, religious extremists gathered outside the hospital and violently attempted to open the doors but were expelled by feminists groups. The fundamentalists were summoned on social networks by Sara Winter, an ex-official at the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights, who is under investigation over fake news.
Lemus explains that Winter committed a crime by revealing the child's identity, which is penalized in Brazil's constitution. Furthermore, the ex-official promoted hatred and exposed the girl and the hospital where she was being treated on social media. On Monday afternoon, Winter broadcasted live the event on her Youtube channel. However, although this represents a violation of community guidelines, neither Twitter, Instagram, or Youtube banned these contents when it was first published.
Brasil - Recife | La lucha feminista vivió un domingo histórico:
— Nacho Lemus (@LemusteleSUR) August 17, 2020
Las mujeres pusieron el cuerpo como barricada en la puerta de un hospital para proteger del ataque de grupos bolsonaristas a una niña de 10 años violada por su tío a la que le realizaban un aborto. @teleSURtv
Hilo pic.twitter.com/0WoQO57J1b
The case largely echoed in social media as the girl initially was denied an abortion by the University Hospital Cassiano Antônio Moraes in the state of Espíritu Santo even though the law allows terminations for victims of rape. The denial forced the girl and her family to travel 1.800 km to another hospital. Local media outlet Brazil de Fato claims that her uncle abused the victim for four years.
Nevertheless, Lemus reports that the rapist remains a fugitive, and the Bolosonaro's supporters have not demanded his arrest. On the other hand, the Brazilian deputy Áurea Carolina started gathering signs, so the Antiracist and Feminist Parliamentary front submits a demand against Sara Winter for exposing the child's identity.
Brazilian law allows abortion only in cases of rape, incest, to save a woman's life, and, since 2012, in the case of anencephaly—a fatal condition in which infants are born without parts of the brain or skull.
In this sense, the case sparked a debate over the right to legal, save, and free terminations. According to research published in the scientific journal The Lancet in 2019, it is estimated that 500.000 illegal abortions occur in Brazil every year among women aged 18-39 years old. Moreover, as a consequence of unsafe terminations, more than 2000 women die yearly.
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