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Articulação de Mulheres Brasileiras (AMB)
(Brazilian Women's Association)
Formed in 1994, AMB is a national network of feminist activists representing a regional, cultural, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic cross section of Brazilian civil society organizations. Following the 1995 Beijing conference on women, AMB played a central role in ensuring Brazilian national implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. More recently, AMB has been active in the growing movement to legalize abortion in Brazil. Abortion is currently legal only in cases of rape, incest, or life-threatening pregnancy, but an estimated 1 million illegal abortions occur in Brazil each year, and complications from these underground and often unsafe procedures account for one in four pregnancy-related deaths. In response to this crisis, Brazilian feminists have come together to form the Jornadas Brasileiras pelo Direito ao Aborto Legal e Seguro (Brazilian Initiative for the Right to Legal and Safe Abortion – BIRSLA) to advocate for safe and legal abortion as a matter of public health, social justice, democracy, and human rights. AMB is a coordinating member organization of BIRSLA, and in 2005, a feminist leader from AMB was appointed as civil society representative to a Tripartate Commission to review the current abortion law and propose changes. IWHC has supported AMB since 2002. We are currently supporting the network to build and diversify popular support for abortion legalization through a special issue of its Bocas do Mundo (Mouths of the World) magazine and a series of meetings and public events aimed at mobilizing women in four Brazilian states: Ceará, Piauí, Acre, and Rondônia.
For more information, visit AMB's website.
Instituto de Bioética, Direitos Humanos e Gênero (ANIS)
(Institute for Bioethics, Human Rights, and Gender)
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| A woodcut from Uma História Severina. Image courtesy of ANIS. |
Based in the capital city of Brasilia, ANIS is the first Latin American nongovernmental organization to focus on research, training, technical assistance, and advocacy in the field of bioethics. In 2004 ANIS agreed to take on a controversial Supreme Court case involving safe abortion in cases of fetal anencephaly. Anencephaly is a defect that can occur during fetal development, resulting in the absence of a major portion of the brain, skull, and scalp. Infants with this disorder rarely survive for more than a few hours or days outside the womb, and many are stillborn, yet Brazil's restrictive abortion laws currently prohibit women carrying anencephalic fetuses from legally terminating their pregnancies. As a result, Brazil has the fourth largest number of infants born with anencephaly in the world. Throughout 2004 and 2005, ANIS represented a 19-year-old Brazilian woman in her struggle to obtain judicial permission to terminate an anencephalic pregnancy. The case continued throughout her pregnancy and in the end, the woman was forced to give birth to an infant who lived for seven minutes. In 2005 IWHC supported ANIS to produce a documentary, "Uma História Severina," to shed light on the suffering individual women continue to face as the Court fails to reach a final decision.
For more information, visit ANIS's website.
"Uma História Severina" is available in Portuguese, English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, and German. Click here for more information.
Católicas pelo Direito de Decidir (CDD – Brasil)
(Catholics for the Right to Decide)
CDD-Brasil is the Brazilian chapter of a regional and global network of Catholic women that seeks to transform the Church, through advocacy, trainings, and educational outreach, into a democratic community that promotes gender equality and respects sexual and reproductive rights. In Brazil, CDD conducts workshops on safe abortion for hospital staff, social workers, nurses, psychologists, and physicians. The workshops offer health workers an opportunity to reflect on their personal attitudes about abortion, and move toward balancing these attitudes with their broader legal, professional, and ethical responsibilities. IWHC has supported CDD-Brasil since 2000.
For more information, visit CDD-Brasil's website.
Centro Feminista de Estudos e Assessoria (CFEMEA)
(Center for Feminist Studies and Analysis)
CFEMEA is a government watchdog group based in the capital city of Brasilia. It tracks all legislative proposals related to women, monitors the government's budget and expenditure processes, educates policymakers about gender and women's rights, and keeps feminist organizations across Brazil informed on key legislation and policy developments. In 2000, CFEMEA's joint campaign to raise awareness of maternal mortality in Brazil led to the establishment of a parliamentary commission to investigate the issue. IWHC has supported CFEMEA since 1995.
For more information, visit CFEMEA's website.
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| Girls learning to sew at a women's community center in João Pessoa supported by Cunhã. Photo by Virginia Joffe. |
Cunhã, Coletivo Feminista
(Cunhã Feminist Collective)
Founded in 1990 in João Pessoa, the capital of the poor northeastern state of Paraiba, Cunhã advocates for improved family planning and HIV-prevention services. It also conducts public education on young people's health needs and human rights in partnership with community leaders, teachers, local health councils, and young people themselves. Cunhã is also the Brazilian national focal point for the September 28th Campaign, a regional initiative to decriminalize abortion throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. IWHC has supported Cunhã since 1993.
Grupo Curumim
(Curumim Group)
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| Youth activists in Cunhatã, Curumim's program for adolescents. |
Founded in 1989 in the northeastern city of Recife, Curumim has grown from a small midwifery advocacy organization to a much broader initiative for improving public health services, expanding sexual and reproductive health education, and legitimizing midwifery. Grupo Curumim organizes workshops and seminars for adolescents living or working on the streets on such topics as basic health care, contraception, human rights, violence, sexuality, childbirth, and HIV/AIDS. Through providing adolescents with full and accurate information about their sexual and reproductive health and rights, Grupo Curumim is empowering these young people to take control of their lives and reach adulthood in good health. IWHC has supported Grupo Curumim since 1994.
Read more about Grupo Curumim here.
Grupo Transas do Corpo
Founded in 1990 in Goiânia, capital of the interior state of Goias, Transas educates the community on women's health, sexuality, and rights, targeting health professionals, working and in-school adolescents, and organizations connected to social movements. Past workshops have focused on Afro-Brazilian women and citizenship; gender, sexuality, and sexual violence; confronting HIV/AIDS; gender and sexuality education; female condoms; and young people's health and rights. IWHC has supported Transas since 1993.
For more information, visit Transas's website.
Instituto Patrícia Galvão
(Patrícia Galvão Institute)
Created in 2000, Instituto Patrícia Galvão is a new feminist initiative to build the media and communications capacity of women's groups, coordinate joint campaigns, and focus attention on women's citizenship and human rights through strategic media education and engagement. IWHC has supported the Patrícia Galvão Institute since 2002.
For more information, visit Instituto Patrícia Galvão's website.
Rede Feminista de Saúde
(National Feminist Health Network)
Since its establishment in 1991, the Brazilian Feminist Health Network has grown from a national initiative with 16 member groups to a powerful network uniting 113 organizations from 20 Brazilian states. The network has been pivotal to developing and implementing Brazil’s exceptional national women’s health policy, improving access to contraceptive choices and legal abortion, and devising the means to reduce maternal deaths in rural and other isolated communities. It is also a critical tool for coordinating among the diverse organizations that make up the Brazilian women's movement. IWHC has supported the network since its inception in 1991.
For more information, visit Rede Feminista de Saúde's website.
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