Porto Alegre, Brazil, Jan 4, 2006 / 22:00 pm
In an article published in the Brazilian newspaper Jornal O Sul, a judge in Rio Grande do Sul, Alexandre Mussoi Moreira, noted the absurdity of passing laws that protect turtles under any circumstance, from the laying of their eggs until their natural death as full grown animals, and at the same time passing laws allow abortion for any reason up until the moment of birth.
Without addressing the arguments of those in favor of a proposed law that would legalize abortion in Brazil, Judge Mussoi Moreira outlined a series of legal reasons that show that passage of the law is prohibited by the country’s constitution.
The judge pointed out that Brazil’s constitution protects the right to life and that international treaties on human rights that are approved by Brazil’s Congress are equal to constitutional amendments and therefore are considered rights and fundamental guarantees.