No Easy Answers in Brazil

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vcex_navbar menu=”6″ button_color=”black” font_weight=”” hover_bg=”#c7aae2″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]No Easy Answers in Brazil, de Marcelo Pellegrini.
Publicado originalmente por NHK, em 29 de julho de 2016 [assista ao vídeo no link acima].

As Rio de Janeiro prepares to host the Olympic Games next week, Brazil is still battling the Zika virus. It’s casting an especially dark shadow over pregnant women.

The outbreak started there last year and spread to other parts of the Americas. The people it’s affecting most are at places such as a hospital in Brazil’s northeast. It receives more than 100 babies with microcephaly every week. It’s a condition linked to Zika and can mean developmental problems.

Nadia Bezerra, 42, gave birth to her daughter Alice last October. During her pregnancy she had a high fever she thinks was from the Zika virus. A doctor informed her that her baby would have birth defects. She worried about what that would mean but when Alice was born.

“I felt relieved when I saw her. She was alive, and nothing else mattered to me,” Bezerra says.

But it’s not easy. Bezerra faces many challenges. Alice suffers periodic convulsions. And Bezerra had to quit her job because of her baby’s health problems. Alice needs to take multiple medications that cost over 150 dollars every month. That’s almost what Bezerra’s husband makes.

“Even if she takes all the medicine, she still goes into convulsions. I don’t have any hope anymore,” Bezerra says.

As Bezerra manages to get by, others are taking a different, dangerous route.

A majority of Brazil’s population is Catholic and abortion is strictly limited by law. Experts say a woman dies every two days from an unsafe, self-performed abortion.

A human rights group has been urging the government to legalize abortion for pregnant women who have been infected by the Zika virus.

“Women who are infected by Zika agonize and suffer deeply…it’s similar to suffering from sexual violence. As part of women’s rights, abortion must be an option,” said Debora Diniz, a professor at the University of Brasilia.

Many oppose legalizing abortion. They insist women should give birth to babies even if they could be born with defects.

“One life is one life, even a baby with microcephaly. You can’t just select and have babies that are perfect,” says one woman.

The Zika outbreak is creating confusion and division in Brazilian society, and there’s no clear sign of when it will be stopped. Even if it is, women like Bezerra will still have to grapple with an everyday struggle.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vcex_social_links social_links=”%5B%7B%22site%22%3A%22youtube%22%2C%22link%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fchannel%2FUCLEnSx2zVwo3KPpCU5h64_w%22%7D%2C%7B%22site%22%3A%22facebook%22%2C%22link%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fpt-br.facebook.com%2FAnisBioetica%22%7D%2C%7B%22site%22%3A%22twitter%22%2C%22link%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fanis_bioetica%3Flang%3Dpt%22%7D%5D” style=”minimal-rounded” align=”right” size=”20″ width=”30″ height=”30″][/vc_column][/vc_row]