Imagining Fetal Citizens in Brazil

On the Transnational Circulation of Reproductive Technologies and the 'Statute of the Unborn

Bibliographic Data

ID2229656
AuthorsRafael De La Dehesa (The Graduate Center, CUNY), Tatiana Lionço (Universidade de Brasília)
Year2024
Volume49
Issue2
Pages333-359
Publication date2024-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSigns: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0097-9740 • E-ISSN: 1545-6943
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/726642
OpenAlexW4388742348
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited16

Since 2005, Brazil’s “pro-life” movement has increasingly invested in efforts to promote recognition of the juridical personhood of the “unborn,” making it a key vehicle to advance its political vision and mobilize its constituents. The agenda has crystallized most clearly around various legislative proposals to institute a so-called Statute of the Unborn (Estatuto do Nascituro), which would effectively recognize fetuses and embryos as full citizens in the country, codifying rights that would trump those of other juridical subjects, particularly women. In this article, we offer a genealogy of this recent turn in pro-life activism, situating it at the nexus of shifting national and transnational political and organizational networks. In doing so, we build on a feminist literature linking constructions of fetal personhood with the diffusion of reproductive technologies, understanding these broadly to include not just biomedical technologies but also technologies of reproductive governance. Drawing on archival research, we begin by tracing how Brazilian antiabortion activists’ historic articulation with transnational pro-life, “pro-family” networks facilitated their appropriation of transnational technologies of reproductive governance, contributing directly to their current strategic prioritization of the juridical rights and personhood of the unborn. We then explore the contours of national debates on the matter through an analysis of various bills to codify these, introduced to the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies since 1978. We pay particular attention to debates surrounding the proposed statute, underscoring its resonance with broader social movement strategies associated with identity politics and vulnerable groups in Brazil

Corporate governance · Human rights · Nexus (standard) · Personhood · Political science · Politics · Population · Reproductive health · Reproductive rights · Reproductive technology · Sociology · Statute · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Law · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Reproductive Health and Technologies