Associated PressSAO PAULO — Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Sao Paulo on Saturday as protests sweep across Brazil in opposition to a bill that would further criminalize abortions. If passed, the law would equate the termination of a pregnancy after 22 weeks with homicide.
About 10,000 people, mostly women, filled several blocks of Sao Paulo's main boulevard on Saturday afternoon, organizers estimated. It was the biggest demonstration yet, following events in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Florianopolis, Recife, Manaus, and other cities. Many wore green clothes and scarves, a common sight in women's rights mobilizations across Latin America.
If the bill becomes law, the sentence would rise to between six and 20 years when an abortion is performed after 22 weeks. Critics have highlighted that would mean convicted rapists could receive lesser sentences than their victims. "For children, it is common for a pregnancy to be discovered only after 22 weeks," Ivanilda Figueiredo, a professor of law at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, said by phone. For example, they might not know that periods — a sign women aren't pregnant — are monthly, she said.
The bill's author, lawmaker and Evangelical pastor Sóstenes Cavalcante, declined an interview request from the AP. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's government has been seeking inroads with Evangelicals, a key voting bloc for far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro. Lula beat Bolsonaro in the 2022 presidential election.