Premium
SELECTIVE ABORTION IN BRAZIL: THE ANENCEPHALY CASE
Author(s) -
DINIZ DEBORA
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
developing world bioethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.398
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 1471-8847
pISSN - 1471-8731
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-8847.2007.00202.x
Subject(s) - abortion , anencephaly , supreme court , aborted fetus , fetus , cornerstone , law , political science , obstetrics , criminology , medicine , pregnancy , sociology , biology , history , genetics , archaeology
This paper discusses the Brazilian Supreme Court ruling on the case of anencephaly. In Brazil, abortion is a crime against the life of a fetus, and selective abortion of non‐viable fetuses is prohibited. Following a paradigmatic case discussed by the Brazilian Supreme Court in 2004, the use of abortion was authorized in the case of a fetus with anencephaly. The objective of this paper is to analyze the ethical arguments of the case, in particular the strategy of avoiding the moral status of the fetus, the cornerstone thesis of the Catholic Church.