Brazilian women protest against proposed new abortion bill

Women’s rights groups took to the streets across Brazil to denounce a bill that aims to charge any abortion after 22 weeks of pregnancy with homicide. Currently, Brazil’s legislation allows abortions in cases of rape, evident risk to the mother’s life, or if the fetus has no functioning brain. In other cases, the country’s Criminal Code imposes between 1 to 3 years of jail time for women who terminate a pregnancy. If the proposed bill becomes law, that sentence would rise to between 6 and 20 years of detention for abortions performed after 22 weeks of pregnancy, including in cases of rape.