The body, reproduction and citizenship: the case of the judicial - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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
• ver 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.

2

ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo

• 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.

3

ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo

• 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.

4

ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo

• 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

• f

complications related to unsafe abortions (WHO, 2008). Around 70.000 of them die as a consequence, aproximately 8 deaths per hour.

5

ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo

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 defined by the Brazilian Penal Code Third parties

• 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

Bases for the appeals

Third parties: plea nullification of the indictment due 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

Judicial decision by the State Court

Third parties 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

• f the pregnancy; aborting.

8

ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo

• 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.

9

ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo

• 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

• f

santeria”; “spiritual consultant”; performer; abortionist; owner of a brothel; appellant.

10

ICCAL 2015- Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo