Joana Ribeiro Zimmer Brazilian judge bans 11yr old rape victim from having an abortion as the magistrate is now investigated amid uproar of unpopular decision.
Disconcert has come to the fore after a judge in Brazil forbid an 11 year old rape victim from having an abortion. The child was furthermore mandated to stay in a shelter in a bid to preempt her from seeking out an abortion.
Judge Joana Ribeiro Zimmer’s ruling follows the victim, who wasn’t named, being taken to a hospital in Santa Catarina state last month after her mother discovered the child becoming pregnant after being raped in the family’s home, the Intercept reported.
Doctors refused to perform an abortion on the girl because she was already 22 weeks and two days pregnant. Under the hospital’s rules, the procedure can only be carried out until the 20-week mark.
When the case was brought before the courts, the magistrate sided with the doctors and ruled the girl couldn’t have the abortion because she was already too far along.
Abortions are illegal in Brazil — except in cases of rape and if there’s a danger to the woman’s life.
Review of Judge’s decision announced
Of note, a woman in the U.S can get an abortion later than 24 weeks only in rare cases for medical reasons. While in Texas, a new law, enacted Sept. 1, 2021, bans abortion around 6 weeks into pregnancy — before many people even know they’re pregnan
In issuing the order for the girl to then be housed in a shelter, the judge noted there was a ‘risk’ the girl ‘will carry out some procedure to operate on the death of the baby.’
Prosecutors later said they’d requested the girl be put into a shelter to remove her from further abuse from the adult who initially impregnated her. It remained unclear why the man continued to remain free.
The person who raped the girl wasn’t publicly identified.
In her ruling, the judge discussed giving the infant up for adoption, telling the girl there were ‘30,000 couples who wanted the baby.’
She also asked if the girl wanted to ‘choose the baby’s name’ and if the man who raped her would agree with putting the child up for adoption.
The Court of Justice of Santa Catarina has since announced its internal affairs department is looking into the judge’s ruling.
Ramifications in the U.S
In 2012, Brazil’s Ministry of Health reported only 1,626 legal abortions in a nation with 203 million people.
Nevertheless, pro abortions agency, IPAS, noted, ‘However, an estimated one million Brazilian women have abortions every year. Many of those women, particularly those without the financial or social resources to see a well-trained, willing provider, run a huge legal risk when they decide to end an unwanted pregnancy.’
A woman found ‘guilty’ of having an abortion in Brazil, faces up to one to three years in prison, while providers face one to four years imprisonment.
In the US, criminal charges for abortion and pregnancy loss have sharply increased in recent years. The above developments echo what could potentially come to pass in the U.S if the Supreme Court decides to overturn, Roe vs Wade which was the watershed case that legally allowed women to seek out abortions.
