Suffering in dispute: the production of the true victim in cases of legal abortion

Abstract

Legal abortion is a theme full of religious, moral, scientific and legal disputes. Given these conflicts, this project seeks to discuss the moral economy that produces, marks and legitimates access and the exercise of rights and duties from the construction of the ambivalent figure of the "true victim". To this end, I will unfold some of the issues outlined in my doctoral thesis and give special attention to the rhetoric that justifies legal abortion from a moral language founded on notions of pain, suffering and victimization. In this way, I will establish a comparative analysis between the 12 previously collected abortion cases and the theoretical-scientific discussions arising from the sections of the Fundamental Precept Non-compliance Arrangement 442 (ADPF/442) - constitutionality control legal institute that aims to ensure that the precepts of the Constitution are observed - underway in the Brazilian Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The hypothesis of this postdoctoral project is that, at least since the last 10 years, similar victimization devices have been mobilized by different groups, either for or against decriminalization of abortion. Some argue that women in situations of sexual violence are the victims, affected by the misogyny that permeates all relationships, as well as the limit of their access to rights and therefore makes them suffer. There are also those who claim that the real victims of these situations of violence are the fetuses, that is, the lives that will not be able to exist. We are facing a complex dispute over the recognition of suffering and, consequently, of the "true" victim. Thus, it is of fundamental importance to understand these narrative forms that articulate moralities, rights, sufferings, sexuality and gender, as well as to analyze the effects of this articulation in terms of public health policies. (AU)