Experiences of Abortion in Black Rural Brazil

The 2023 Brazilian national abortion survey highlighted that, despite legal restrictions, abortion remains prevalent, with one in every seven women undergoing the procedure by age 40. A racial breakdown of the data revealed that Black women were 46% more likely than white women to have an abortion. Access to safe abortion is an essential reproductive rights issue and a vital public health concern.

The magnitude and criminalization of abortion in Brazil exacerbate the already existing class, gender, and race inequalities in the country.

Reproductive health research shows that Black women face the greatest individual and institutional barriers when attempting to access sexual and reproductive care services. This group is also more likely to die from abortion-related causes and face arrest and stigma. These further stark racial disparities make access to safe abortion a matter of racial justice in Brazil.

Studies on abortion in Brazil with a racial focus are scarce.

In particular, little is known about how Black people in rural communities navigate and challenge legal restrictions, cultural stigma, and racial discrimination when seeking an abortion in a setting that is structurally designed to exclude them and has historically despised their fertility.

This project aims to understand the experience and processes of accessing and having an Abortion in Black Rural Brazil through the lens of local pregnant people.

Based on anthropological and interdisciplinary studies on reproductive health, gender, and critical race theory, this timely research will investigate how they confront the multifaceted challenges surrounding abortion access and reproductive rights in contemporary Black rural Brazil.

By drawing on ethnographic fieldwork this study will generate practical evidence to improve rural abortion services in Brazil, enhance the anthropology of reproduction through concepts of stigma, justice, and autonomy, and engage civil society on this urgent matter.