The Impact of the Abortion Ban in Brazil.

So this is grim. Despite the ban on abortions in the very Catholic Brazil, the reality is that abortion is commonplace and women are suffering the gamut of health risks. A recent study found that one in five women receive illegal abortions and at least 200,000 women are hospitalized each year because of complications related to abortion. Grim.
So you would think with such staggering statistics there would be legislation underway to overturn such draconian laws forcing women into unhealthy conditions, frankly a public health nightmare. But you would be wrong.

In fact, Brazil’s Congress is discussing tightening legislation rather than relaxing it. A bill in the committee stage proposes criminalizing any act designed to deliberately damage a fetus and prohibiting any statements that promote even legal abortion, a move the New York City-based Center for Reproductive Rights said “totally disregards women’s health and lives.” Health professionals say they hope the bill will die with the end of the current legislature and are hopeful next year’s new Congress will be more forward-looking.
Birth-control advocates are dismayed that Roman Catholic Church still wields considerable power. Brazil was recently the scene of a controversy involving the excommunication of doctors who performed an abortion on a 9-year-old raped by her stepfather. Bishops last month pointedly told voters to vote for a presidential candidate who is “committed to unconditional respect for life.”

Horrifying. Check out the CRR’s info page on Brazil (sparce) and please put links to orgs we should know about and support regarding this issue in comments.
via Time.