Social inequalities in utilization of a feminist telehealth abortion service in Brazil: A multilevel analysis.

The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on health services around the world boosted interest over telehealth models of care. In Brazil, where abortion is heavily restricted, abortion seekers have long relied on international telehealth services to access abortion pills. We conducted a cross-sectional multilevel study to assess the effect of individual and contextual social factors on utilization of one such service. For the individual-level, we analyzed data from the records of abortion seekers contacting this feminist international telehealth organization during 2019 (n = 25,920). Individual-level variables were age, race, education level and pregnancy length. Contextual-level units were states, for which we used data from the national Demographic Census and Household Surveys. Contextual-level variables were household income per capita, adjusted net school attendance rate, percentage of racialized women and income Gini Index. We fitted five multilevel Poisson Mixed-effects models with robust variance to estimate prevalence ratios (PR) of service utilization, which was defined as receiving abortion pills through the service. We found that only 8.2% of requesters got abortion pills through the service. Utilization was higher among women who were older, white, more educated and 5-8-weeks pregnant. Independently of this, service utilization was higher in states with higher income and education access, with lower proportions of racialized women, and located in the South, Southeast and Central-West regions. We concluded that while feminist telehealth abortion initiatives provide a life-saving service for some abortion seekers, they are not fully equipped to overcome entrenched social inequalities in their utilization, both at individual and contextual levels.

Abortion rights beyond the medico-legal paradigm.

Abortion rights in international law have historically been framed within a medico-legal paradigm, the belief that regulated systems of legal and medical control guarantee safe abortion. However, a growing worldwide practice of self-managed abortion (SMA) supported by feminist activism challenges key precepts of this paradigm. SMA activism has shown that more than medical service delivery matters to safe abortion and has called into question the legal regulation of abortion beyond criminal prohibitions. This article explores how abortion rights have begun to depart from the medico-legal paradigm and to support the novel norms and practices of SMA activism in a transformation of the abortion field. Abortion rights as reimagined in SMA activism increasingly feature in human rights agendas related to structural violence and inequality, collective organising and international solidarity, and democratic engagement.

Misoprostol on trial: a descriptive study of the criminalization of an essential medicine in Brazil.

Misoprostol is a medicine with a "double" social life recorded in several places, including Brazil. Within formal and authorized health facilities, it is an essential medicine, used for life-saving obstetric procedures. On the streets, or in online informal markets, misoprostol is treated as a dangerous drug used to induce illegal abortions. In the Brazilian case, despite a rich anthropological and public health analysis of the social consequences of misoprostol's double life, there are no studies on the legal implications. This article offers such descriptive analysis, presenting and examining a comprehensive dataset of how Brazilian courts have treated misoprostol in the past three decades. It consists of an encompassing mapping of the "when, where, how, and who" of misoprostol criminalization in Brazil, pointing to the unjust consequences of the use of criminal law for the purpose of protecting public health.

In the name of public health: misoprostol and the new criminalization of abortion in Brazil.

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.

Misoprostol on trial: a descriptive study of the criminalization of an essential medicine in Brazil / O misoprostol nos tribunais: um estudo descritivo da criminalização de um medicamento essencial no Brasil / El misoprostol en juicio: un estudio descriptivo de la criminalización de un medicamento esencial en Brasil

Misoprostol is a medicine with a "double" social life recorded in several places, including Brazil. Within formal and authorized health facilities, it is an essential medicine, used for life-saving obstetric procedures. On the streets, or in online informal markets, misoprostol is treated as a dangerous drug used to induce illegal abortions. In the Brazilian case, despite a rich anthropological and public health analysis of the social consequences of misoprostol's double life, there are no studies on the legal implications. This article offers such descriptive analysis, presenting and examining a comprehensive dataset of how Brazilian courts have treated misoprostol in the past three decades. It consists of an encompassing mapping of the "when, where, how, and who" of misoprostol criminalization in Brazil, pointing to the unjust consequences of the use of criminal law for the purpose of protecting public health.

O misoprostol é um medicamento com uma "dupla" vida social registrada em vários lugares, inclusive no Brasil. Nos serviços de saúde formais e autorizados, é considerado um medicamento essencial, utilizado para procedimentos obstétricos que salvam vidas. Nas ruas ou nos mercados informais online, o misoprostol é tratado como um medicamento perigoso, usado para induzir abortos ilegais. No caso brasileiro, apesar de uma rica análise antropológica e de saúde pública das consequências sociais da vida dupla do misoprostol, não há estudos sobre as implicações jurídicas. O artigo oferece essa análise, apresentando e examinando um amplo banco de dados sobre o tratamento dado ao misoprostol pelos tribunais brasileiros nas últimas três décadas. Ele consiste em um mapeamento. Consiste em um mapeamento amplo do "quando, onde, como e por quem" da criminalização do misoprostol no Brasil, apontando as consequências injustas do uso do direito penal em questões de saúde pública.

El misoprostol es una medicina con una "doble" vida social registrada en varios países, incluyendo Brasil. En los centros de salud formales y autorizados, es una medicina esencial, usada en procedimientos obstétricos que salvan vidas. En las calles o en las tiendas en línea informales, el misoprostol está considerado como una peligrosa medicina usada para inducir abortos ilegales. En el caso brasileño, a pesar del rico análisis antropológico y de la salud pública sobre las consecuencias sociales de la doble vida del misoprostol, no existen estudios de sus implicaciones jurídicas. Este artículo ofrece este análisis, presentando y examinando un banco de datos completo de cómo las cortes brasileñas de justicia han tratado el misoprostol en las últimas tres décadas. Consiste en un exhaustivo mapeo del "cuándo, dónde, cómo y quién" respecto a la criminalización del misoprostol en Brasil, señalando las injustas consecuencias del uso del derecho penal en cuestiones de salud pública.