Brazil has undergone many changes in recent years.
Catholicism has collapsed to 51% while Protestants have grown to 31%.
Coupled with this, Brazilian politics have taken a bizarre trend also, with former President Jair Bolsonaro flirting with Evangelicalism and Zionism while also maintaining a relationship with Catholicism. Current leftist President Lula was seen as being the bishops’ choice last year, leading to criticism as he now tries to legalise abortion.
The rise of Evangelicalism in Central and South America has already helped to lead to liberal abortion laws in Mexico, Argentina and Colombia amongst others. This is not to blame Evangelicals for legalising abortion, but the rise in it is generally a stopgap to wider secularisation.
With the Supreme Court now facing the decision of whether or not to legalise abortion, massive international pressure is being exerted by the Anglophone world.
Amnesty International have said:
Despite the green wave’s numerous victories in the Americas over the last few years, the rights gained and the opportunities to expand abortion protections are under attack by anti-rights actors. The overturning of Roe v. Wade in the United States last year was a wakeup call for the movement, reminding us once more that the fight to defend and expand our rights must be ongoing.
Brazil has the opportunity to join the green wave and recognize the right to access a safe and legal abortion for women, girls, and all people who can become pregnant. For decades, the criminalization of abortion has violated our sexual and reproductive rights, and disproportionately discriminated against women who are Black, Indigenous and living in poverty. It is time for the Supreme Federal Court to end this injustice.
In June of this year, George Soros’s Open Democracy actually wrote the following headline with a straight face:
How an anti-abortion group in Brazil spreads disinformation with public cash
Takes one to know one.
Meanwhile, The New York Times have also written an Op Ed calling for abortion to be legalised.
