Prosecutor Asks TCU to Investigate Brazilian Minister for Trying to Prevent Abortion of Raped Child

Folha revealed the ministry's pressure operation; Damares Alves contests and says she aimed at supporting the girl

Americana (SP)

On Monday (21), Deputy General Attorney Lucas Rocha Furtado asked the Federal Court of Auditors to investigate whether the Minister of Women, Family and Human Rights, Damares Alves, violated the constitutional principle of the secularity of the State. Alves used her position to try to prevent a legal abortion by a 10-year old girl from Espírito Santo who became pregnant after being raped.

She further argued that the minister failed to fulfill the responsibility to protect the child in doing so.

The request comes on the heels of an article published this Monday by Folha about representatives of the ministry and political allies sent to the city of São Mateus (ES) by the minister to prevent the pregnancy termination.

The case came to light on August 7, when it was revealed that the girl had become pregnant after four years of recurring rape by a family friend (Foto: Pedro Ladeira/Folhapress, PODER) - Folhapress

The purpose of the operation, which involved pressure and offering improvements to the local guardianship council, was to transfer the child to a hospital in Jacareí (SP), where she would wait for the pregnancy to progress and have the baby, despite the risk of life.

The piece signed by the public prosecutor at the TCU, to which Folha had access, also questions whether "the Federal Public Administration, even in the face of the constitutional secularity of the Brazilian State, has allowed official government acts to be contaminated by personal religious convictions of its members."

Damares contested the report and said she sent the team to "strengthen the girl's safety net."

The girl fulfilled the two conditions provided in the Brazilian Penal Code for a legal abortion: pregnancy resulting from rape and risk of life for the mother.

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

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