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The Issue of Abortion in Contemporary Brazil: An Analysis of Feminist Litigation in the Supreme Court

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Abstract

This article discusses the issue of abortion in the context of the dispute between progressive and neoconservative political forces in Brazil. The article analyses ADPF 442, a legal instrument known as a Motion of Noncompliance with a Fundamental Precept, which was lodged with the Supreme Court as part of a feminist litigation strategy in the country. The motion calls for the Supreme Court to decide on the constitutionality of the decriminalisation of abortion within the first 12 weeks of gestation. Methodologically, the analysis combines a literature review with participant observation and corpus linguistics analysis. ADPF 442 is considered a key event in the use of judicialisation to voice demands for women’s rights in current-day Brazil, and this work examines the testimonies as representative of the discourse and strategies at play in the broader field of abortion and its major actors, both for and against its decriminalisation.

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Notes

  1. For example, ADPF 54, which addresses the decriminalisation of abortion in the case of an anencephalic fetus, was first filed by the National Confederation of Health Workers. Meanwhile, ADI 5.581, addressing the Zika epidemic, was filed by the Association of Public Defenders.

  2. Laws 9,868 / 99 and 9,882 / 99.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) under Grant 150104/2018-9 PDJ. I would like to thank Dr Flavia Biroli for receiving me at Brasilia University during the postdoctoral fellowship, which enabled me to conduct this research, and my fellows from Rede de Pesquisa em Feminismo e Política, especially Dr Daniela Leandro Rezende for her expert advice, encouragement and friendship during the data analyses and manuscript revision.

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  1. University of Brasilia, (UnB), Brazil

    Maria Ligia Ganacim Granado Rodrigues Elias

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Correspondence to Maria Ligia Ganacim Granado Rodrigues Elias.

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Elias, M.L.G.G.R. The Issue of Abortion in Contemporary Brazil: An Analysis of Feminist Litigation in the Supreme Court. Fem Leg Stud 29, 159–179 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-021-09457-3

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