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Thousands protest abortion in Sao Paulo
About 4,000 people took the streets in peaceful protest “against abortion and for life” in front of the Se Cathedral, seat of the archdiocese of Sao Paulo.
About 4,000 people took the streets in peaceful protest “against abortion and for life” in front of the Se Cathedral, seat of the archdiocese of Sao Paulo.
The crowd, estimated at 4,000 by local police, stood in silence for several hours in Cathedral Square in Brazil’s largest city starting at 10:00 am (1830 IST) on Saturday while waving Brazilian flags and wearing t-shirts promoting their cause.
Abortion is illegal in Brazil except in cases of rape or if the woman’s health is in danger.
But a million women still seek clandestine abortions in operations that kill thousands each year, according to officials.
The abortion debate reached a new high earlier this month when Brazilian archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho excommunicated the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old girl who had an abortion after allegedly being raped by her stepfather.
The excommunication was promptly denounced by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB), which said the child’s mother acted “under pressure from the doctors” and that the circumstances should be taken into consideration.
