In the name of public health

misoprostol and the new criminalization of abortion in Brazil

Authors

Keywords:

Aborto, Controle de drogas, Misoprostol, Nova criminalização, Saúde pública. / Abortion, Drug control, New criminalization, Public health.

Abstract

https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/2023/71712

This article explores the criminal regulation of misoprostol as a controlled drug in Brazil as a new form of abortion criminalization. A qualitative analysis of Brazilian case law shows how the courts use a public health rhetoric of unsafe abortion to criminalize the distribution of misoprostol in the informal sector. Rather than an invention of the local bench, this judicial rhetoric reflects global public health discourse and policy on unsafe abortion and the double life of misoprostol as both an essential medicine and a controlled drug. In contrast to previous studies, the article shows that abortion criminalization is not the cause, but rather the consequence of misoprostol’s double life. In the last section, it draws on an outlier judgment of the case law to chart a regulatory future for misoprostol and its supply in the informal sector as a site of harm reduction and safe abortion in public health policy.

Keywords:  Abortion; Drug control; Misoprostol; New criminalization; Public health.

Author Biographies

Mariana Prandini Assis, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Goiás

Professora Adjunta de Ciência Política da Universidade Federal de Goiás. Doutora em Política pela New School for Social Research (EUA), com pós-doutorado em Direito pela Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University (Canadá). E-mail: mariana.prandini@ufg.br. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5566-2613

Joanna N. Erdman, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Escócia

Professor of Law e MacBain Chair in Health Law and Policy na Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University (Canadá). JD pela University of Toronto (Canadá) e LLM pela Harvard Law School (EUA). E-mail: joanna.erdman@dal.ca. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3578-8523

Lílian Ponzo Ribeiro, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais

Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.

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Published

2023-05-11

How to Cite

Assis, M. P., Erdman, J. N., & Ribeiro, L. P. (2023). In the name of public health: misoprostol and the new criminalization of abortion in Brazil. Direito E Práxis, 15(1), 1–36. Retrieved from https://www.e-publicacoes.uerj.br/revistaceaju/article/view/71712

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 1 (2024): REVISTA DIREITO E PRÁXIS

Section

Translations

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Copyright (c) 2023 Direito e Práxis

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