See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy JADA BAS, REPORTER Published: 09:23 BST, 3 June 2026 | Updated: 09:33 BST, 3 June 2026
Brazil could see more child mothers as lawmakers voted to make it tougher for underage victims of rape to access an abortion.The vote, which took only two minutes of debate, moves to dismantle a resolution from the National Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents that mandates prioritising the interests of victims.Regulation previously stipulated that minors who disagreed with their parents or guardians on their pregnancy could obtain free legal assistance to safeguard their rights.But now priority is to be given to parents to decide, and so children who are pregnant as a result of sexual violence will not have the special protections in place and will find it harder to obtain an abortion if their guardians oppose it. 'It is a historic defeat in the comprehensive protection of girls and adolescents in Brazil,' the state body said in a statement, calling it a 'serious setback.' While right-wing Senator Damares Alves said the regulation 'disregards the role and strips away the authority of parents and guardians to decide on the care of girls and adolescents in situations of sexual violence.'Brazil punishes abortions by up to four years in prison, with exceptions for cases of rape, risk of death for the mother, or severe fetal brain malformation.The Senate and Chamber of Deputies have approved the change but it faces one last hurdle to clear Congress - gaining approval from allies of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro. Brazil could see more child mothers as lawmakers voted to make it tougher for underage victims of rape to access abortion. Right-wing Senator Damares Alves (seen) supports the voteIt comes after a 2022 case when a judge in Brazil banned an 11-year-old rape victim from having an abortion when she became pregnant.A medic refused to perform the abortion, saying they could only do so on someone up to 20 weeks, and that they needed a court order.It was then that the case reached Judge Ribeiro Zimmer who reportedly told the court if the mother wanted to protect her daughter she would not 'submit her to homicide'.The girl, accompanied by her mother, was seen by a doctor at the Polydoro Ernani de São Thiago University Hospital, the Intercept reported.They then told a psychologist at the hospital that they did not want to keep the pregnancy.Two days later, prosecutor Mirela Dutra Alberton, from the Santa Catarina Public Ministry, petitioned the court to take her into a shelter.The prosecutor in court documents said that pregnancy is a high risk, explaining: 'Obviously, a child at a young age does not have a biological structure in the formative stage suitable for a pregnancy'. It comes after a 2022 case when Judge Ribeiro Zimmer (pictured) in Brazil banned an 11-year-old rape victim from having an abortion when she became pregnantThen when the case reached the Santa Catarina court, Judge Zimmer sent the girl to a shelter for women, to protect her from her aggressor.Her mother, unnamed, reportedly said that if she had not been taken to the shelter, she would have performed the abortion on her daughter herself.The judge also told the mother if she had granted the girl an abortion that she would not be 'protecting her daughter' and would instead have been 'subjecting her to a homicide'.The Court of Justice of Santa Catarina has since had its Internal Affairs Office investigate Judge Zimmer's ruling.
