Cunhã Feminist Collective, Paraíba State

With the Project to end women’s criminalization and legalize abortion: construction of the National Front in Paraíba, the Collective will strengthen women’s struggle for the right to abortion in Brazil, through the construction of the National Front in the State of Paraíba to end women’s criminalization and legalize abortion.

The proposal is to join efforts to counteract the growing persecution (by fundamentalist religious groups) of women who have abortions, with the aim of expanding the allied base at the local level to extend beyond women’s movements and strengthen the arguments against prosecution for abortion.

The Front will be built through meetings, seminars, and workshops.

In Brazil, according to the 1940 Penal Code (still in force), abortion is classified as a crime except in cases of risk to the woman’s life and/or rape. However, an estimated 729 thousand to 1.25 million clandestine abortions are performed annually, according to reports by the organization.

Poor, Black, and young women in the countryside and on the periphery of large cities are those that suffer the most, forced to turn to the most precarious and dangerous clandestine abortion services, with serious danger to their physical and psychological health.

In João Pessoa, capital of Paraíba State, according to a study by Cunhã (2005), an estimated 7,467 to 10.668 abortions occurred the previous year. Abortion should thus be treated as an issue of public health and social justice.

The organization works to defend and promote the rights of women, youth, and adolescents with a focus on race/ethnicity, social class, generation, and sexual orientation. The key areas of defense are health, education, culture, sexual rights, reproductive rights, the fight against violence against women, and sustainable development. The crosscutting goal will be to contribute to gender equity and the democratization of human rights.

The Collective conducts educational activities with women’s movements, health professionals, and teachers and school staff in the areas of sexual and reproductive health (abortion, contraception, and the prevention of maternal mortality) and violence against women.

The Collective also works with advocacy and social control of public policies (acting in the health and women’s rights municipal councils and the Municipal Committee for the Prevention of Maternal Mortality).