Each year, 11,607 births are a result of sexual violence committed against girls under 14 years of age. Law No. 12,015/2009 determines that this type of violation constitutes rape of a vulnerable person and provides for a prison sentence of two to five years.
Prepared by the International Center for Health Equity, at the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), with support from the organization Umane, a survey verified more than 1 million births from the Live Birth Information System (Sinasc) from 2020 to 2022 and found that 40% of girls in this age group started taking prenatal care after the first three months of pregnancy. The situation is not appropriate.
Prenatal care is a set of measures capable of reducing health risks for the mother and baby. This monitoring includes updating the pregnant woman’s vaccinations, carrying out laboratory tests, such as blood, feces and urine, and imaging tests, such as ultrasound.
With the aim of comparing proportions and showing that the younger the mothers, the less access they have to this health service, the study highlights that the percentage of adolescents up to 19 years of age who received prenatal care in the first trimester is 30% .
started prenatal care after the first trimester of pregnancy. The research is the first to cross-reference the age range with data on the start of pregnancy monitoring in teenagers.
Disparities between regions
The authors who conducted the analyzes highlight the disparities between regions of the country. In the North, almost half of girls under 14 years of age had the possibility of prenatal care after three months of pregnancy. In the Southeast, the percentage drops to 33%.
Indigenous girls, especially those from the North and Central-West, form the group with the most cases of prenatal delays. In total, 49% of them had this experience, compared to 34% of white girls.
In relation to education, what is identified is that the shorter the time of formal education, the greater the chance of prenatal care being postponed. When girls attend school for less than four years, they tend to have less support (49%).
Another especially relevant aspect in the current situation in the country, as the study authors point out, is the fact that one in seven adolescents (14%) began monitoring after 22 weeks of gestation. Regarding this data, they say it serves as an argument to debate the recent bill that aims to limit legal abortion for rape victims up to 22 weeks of gestational age.
Brazilian Public Security Forum
According to the Brazilian Public Security Forum (FBSP)which compiles data on violence against women, in 2019 and 2020, 42,252 and 35,644 rapes of vulnerable people were recorded. In 2021 and 2022, 44,433 and 48,921 were notified. It is worth remembering that rape of a vulnerable person is also characterized when the victim is over 18 years old, but was unable, at the time of the sexual assault, to offer resistance and defend herself. Therefore, they are considered, for example, rapes of women who are drunk, under the influence of drugs or have a disability that prevents them from protecting themselves from the aggressor.
As the main author of the article that publishes the research results, academic Luiza Eunice Sá da Silva, from the International Center for Health Equity at UFPel, points out, more than sending a signal about the susceptibility of babies, the situation that is revealed has relation to girls’ reproductive health choices.
Experts have already demonstrated that Girls aged 10 to 14 were the main victims of rapeat least in the period from 2015 to 2019.
