beyondbrics

By Andrew Downie in São Paulo

Here’s an unexpected consequence of Dilma Rousseff’s failure to win Brazil’s election in the first round: the debate has turned religious.

While the rest of the world wonders about Brazil’s future economic policy, the second-round campaign is centred around abortion. Rousseff’s flip-flop on the issue has infuriated religious conservatives.

Abortion is illegal in Brazil except in cases of rape or where the mother’s life is in danger. Rousseff – the chosen successor of the incumbent Lula da Silva – supported a loosening of the restrictions, but then changed her mind.

Religious conservatives attacked her ahead of the first round on October 3, in some cases absurdly accusing her of proposing abortions as late as the ninth month of pregnancy.

Those allegations resonated among the country’s poor evangelical protestants, many of whom decided to back Marina Silva, the Green Party candidate and herself an evangelical. The additional votes helped Silva to a surprisingly strong showing – and robbed Rousseff of an outright victory – but they were insufficient to put the Green candidate into the run-off ballot.

Now Rousseff’s second-round rival, Jose Serra, has seized on the issue. His new campaign ads show pregnant women stroking their bellies while smiling beatifically. Rousseff responded by reiterating her love of “the family”. It’s as if Brazil had travelled back half a century.

While the politicians posture, abortion is a reality in Brazil. More than one in five Brazilian women have had an abortion, according to a recent government-funded study. Around 1m illegal terminations are performed in the country each year.

For upper-class women, abortions pose little danger as they are carried out discreetly in modern, well-equipped clinics. But the less well-off are forced to use cocktails of unprescribed drugs – or much worse. Some 200,000 women are hospitalised each year due to complications arising from botched abortion attempts, and around 200 die, according to Brazil’s health ministry.

Serra – a former doctor and health minister – should know better. Rousseff’s party, the leftwing PT, might be expected to take a more pragmatic, and socially just, line.

As it stands, the campaign for swing voters is a poor advertisement for Brazil’s democracy – and a non-existent one for how public debate might formulate economic policy.

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