Brazilian lawmakers have passed an amendment to their budget aimed at banning taxpayer funding for abortion, but the president is expected to veto the legislation.
ACI Digital reported that Brazil’s National Congress added an amendment to the Budgetary Guidelines Law (LDO) for 2024, which mandates that the government cannot promote, encourage, or finance abortions with taxpayer money, except in cases already permitted under Brazilian law. Currently, abortion is only allowed to save the life of the mother or in cases of rape or incest.
The amendment was introduced by Federal Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, who said he wanted to prevent “attacks on the family,” and it easily passed both houses of Congress, earning a vote of 305-141 in the House and 43- 26 in the Senate. Bolsonaro is the son of former pro-life president Jair Bolsonaro.
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“[T]he is what the majority of the population thinks of today,” he said. “You can’t imagine paying taxes and then sponsoring the illegal taking of indigenous lands, abortion, or gender reassignment for children.”
However, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is expected to veto the amendment, saying it is not part of the LDO’s “sphere of responsibility.” He has previously said that, while he is personally against abortion, he believes it should be legalized. “Here in Brazil, they don’t do (abortion) because it’s illegal, in fact it should be made a public health issue, and everyone has rights and is not ashamed,” he said. “I don’t want to have children, it’s up to me that I don’t have children, I’ll talk to my partner. What doesn’t work is the law that demands that he has to take care of it.”
In comparison, his predecessor – Jair Bolsonaro – was a staunch pro-life supporter, and, although other Latin American countries have legalized abortion, Bolsonaro has vowed to continue fighting for life.
“As long as it is up to me and my government, abortion will never be approved in our land,” he said in 2021. “We will always fight to protect the lives of the innocent!”
The Brazilian Foreign Affairs Ministry too announced this year it will leave the Geneva Consensus, which declared that abortion is no an international right. The Supreme Court in Brazil also announced earlier this year its intention to rule decriminalization of abortion through 12 weeks of pregnancy; however, the court recently postponed its potential decision.
The DOJ jailed a pro-life grandmother this Christmas for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30 seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.
