ZIka Virus Raises Abortion Debate In Brazil

Brazil's ongoing battle against the Zika virus has challenged the country's conservative attitude towards abortion. Some sectors are asking for leniency while others want steeper penalties for women who abort fetuses with Zika-related birth defects.

Abortion due to Zika is a reality

Women's rights advocate Sonia Correa lamented Brazil's poor implementation of its sexual health policies and neonatal care. She told ABC that the Zika epidemic has caused women to take matters into their own hands, behind the government's back.

"We have signs that some women are seeking clandestine abortions because they found themselves pregnant and with Zika," Correa revealed. "If nothing else we are convinced that the crisis provides everybody with an incredibly privileged moment to debate the issue once again, with so much media, so much discussion on the street."

Pro-abortion groups are prodding the government to allow terminations for pregnant women diagnosed with Zika. As of the moment, abortion is only permitted in Brazil in cases of rape or if the mother or child's life is in danger.

Brazil abortions have international backing

An international advocacy group has been partly to blame for the increased incidence of abortion in the country. The unnamed backer has been supplying abortifacients to Brazilian women who worry their children might develop microcephaly.

Los Angeles Times reported that the group has halted its operations as health authorities in Brazil have started confiscating post mails containing abortion-inducing drugs. To their defense, authorities explained that they have the right to sequester the items as such medicines are prohibited in the country.

Better healthcare services, not abortions

On the other end of the spectrum, Dr. Luciana Lopes Lemos is calling on the country's health officials to implement more comprehensive healthcare services so that abortions wouldn't be necessary. She sees the push to legalize abortion as nothing more than an opportunistic move by devious sectors.

"Shall we now then forget about fighting for a better life, and kill because we don't have a capacity to give a better life to people?" Lemos expressed. "These people that defend abortion in this case are the same people that defend abortion in any case. They are being opportunistic based on the number of women panicking about microcephaly."