Negative Impacts of Abortion Criminalization in Brazil: Systematic Denial of Women's Reproductive Autonomy and Human Rights

Abstract

This article will focus on the negative effects of abortion criminalization and how it affects women's reproductive rights through an analysis of three key aspects: the major impact of unsafe abortion mortality and morbidity on public health; the lack of women's access to safe and legal abortion care in cases permitted by law; and the role of the judicial system in prosecuting women, therefore increasing abortion stigma as well as violating basic human rights principles and norms. This article aims to explore the discriminatory effects of abortion law in Brazil using the case of Mato Grosso do SuI as an example.

Keywords: abortion criminalization, maternal mortality, morbidity, reproductive rights, unsafe abortion, abortion stigma, human rights

JEL Classification: I18, K42, J71