Lula to pull Brazil from international anti-abortion group

Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Ministry on Tuesday announced its intention to withdraw from the Geneva Consensus, an anti-abortion declaration signed in 2020 by conservative governments.

The document’s original signatories include Brazil (under Jair Bolsonaro), the U.S. (under Donald Trump), and another 32 countries — some of which have a checkered record on human rights, as is the case of Belarus, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan.

The declaration emphasized that “in no case should abortion be promoted as a method of family planning” and that “any measures or changes related to abortion within the health system can only be determined at the national or local level according to the national legislative process.” 

In January 2021, a few days after taking office, U.S. President Joe Biden announced the U.S. would withdraw its co-sponsorship and signature of the document. Last year, the Gustavo Petro administration likewise removed Colombia.

Activism against abortion — even legal abortions — played a central role in the Jair Bolsonaro administration. But after he lost the election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, leaving the Geneva Consensus was seen as an important step to undo Mr. Bolsonaro’s legacy on human rights.

Separately, the Health Ministry on Monday revoked a Bolsonaro-era ordinance that obliged hospitals to notify the police about abortion cases — even when the procedures were legal. Upon taking office, Health Minister Nísia Trindade said she would strike down any ordinances and technical notes that “violate science, human rights, sexual, and reproductive rights.”

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