Christian bench will have priority in support of project that suspends resolution on legal abortion

The Christian bench, which should be formed in the Chamber of Deputies in the coming days, defined one of its priorities: annulling a resolution that deals, among other things, with legal abortion.

According to Luiz Gastão (PSD-CE), president of the Catholic Parliamentary Front, the bench will have a broad role in discussing topics such as health and education, but will also adopt a position on the customs agenda.

The project chosen by the new bench suspends the resolution of the National Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (Conanda) of 2024. This resolution provides assistance to children and adolescents who are victims of sexual violence and guarantees their rights.

The resolution says that the child must have guaranteed their right to access information about the possibility of abortion if the pregnancy is the result of an episode of sexual violence.

This resolution also allows abortion to be performed without the need to draw up a police report or judicial supervision reporting the case of sexual violence. Furthermore, another excerpt says that it constitutes discriminatory conduct, even in the case of conscientious objection, if a professional refuses to perform an abortion solely on the basis of disbelief “in relation to the words of the victim of sexual violence”.

Conservative parliamentarians are against all of these mentioned excerpts. In the last case mentioned, members of the bench also mention that Catholic hospitals would be obliged to terminate pregnancies, even though they are against abortion.

The author of the project to suspend the resolution, deputy Chris Tonietto (PL-RJ), claims that Conanda’s normative act talks about the right to abortion – something that, for her, does not constitute a right. Therefore, for her, “there is no need to talk about legal abortion”.

Gastão is the project’s rapporteur. He states that Conanda’s resolution “protects the rapist” by allowing the procedure even without the need to open a police report.

“The exemption from judicial authorization, in my opinion, constitutes an affront to the unborn child’s right of access to the Judiciary”, says Gastão. “The resolution goes beyond legal limits, life, medical literature and common sense itself.”

This project to suspend Conanda’s resolution has already entered the Chamber’s plenary agenda on two different days this October.

The Christian bench – which brings together the Catholic and evangelical parliamentary fronts – had the urgent request (acceleration of processing) approved this Wednesday, 22.

The urgency request has 346 signatures, equivalent to 67.4% of the Chamber. Combined, the Catholic and Evangelical fronts have 306 members. The Chamber has other large benches: the bullet group (247 deputies) and the parliamentary fronts for education (200 deputies) and health (179 deputies).

This group would have participation and vote in the College of Leaders.

It is in the College of Leaders, for example, that most of the plenary agenda, where the main votes take place in the Chamber, is defined. “We are creating a monster at the College of Leaders,” stated Lindbergh Farias (RJ), leader of the PT in the Chamber.

Some left-wing parties in the Chamber expressed objection to the creation of the bench and the possibility of participating in the College of Leaders, as they understood that there could be discrimination against other religions and the trivialization of the college itself.

Parliamentarians from the Catholic and evangelical fronts refute the argument and say that the Christian faith represents 80% of the Brazilian population. Therefore, it would be justifiable to defend issues relating to the Christian faith in the College of Leaders.