BRUSSELS, 24 November – The EPF Executive Committee has written to the Parliament of Brazil expressing its strong concern at a proposed constitutional amendment which could result in a tightening of Brazil’s already restrictive law on abortion. Abortion is illegal in Brazil, except when pregnancy is due to rape, endangers the mother’s life or if the fetus has anencephaly, in which a baby is missing parts of the brain and skull. The proposed amendment seeks to remove these exceptions. More than 1 million abortions take place in Brazilian clandestine clinics each year and thousands of women end up in the hospital as a result of botched procedures, according to government estimates.
