As the October 5 presidential elections approach in Brazil, pro-lifers are finding themselves in a difficult philosophical position in deciding how to cast their ballot. The three main candidates are left-leaning, pro-homosexual marriage and pro-abortion candidates.
For the past twelve years, the incumbent, Dilma Rousseff, and her Workers Party have been responsible for the greatest advances of the culture of death in Brazil’s history. Rousseff was responsible for passing a bill that in theory protected women from sexual assault, but in fact opened the door to a more liberal interpretation of the abortion law and government funding for abortion. This was accomplished by deceptively changing the wording of the abortion law, eliminating the word “rape” and replacing it with “non-consensual sexual relationship” and perhaps more importantly by changing the word “abortion to “pregnancy prophylaxis” so the procedure could be performed within the public health system.
Rousseff’s primary opponent and the front runner so far, Marina Silva is not much better. She pretends to be neutral in most social and moral issues, but her party’s platform claims that abortion should be completely legalized and homosexual marriage recognized in Brazil’s Constitution. In the end, she wouldn’t be free to simply dissent from the party’s established goals and cannot be counted on by Brazil’s citizens to support pro-life or pro-family issues.
The most “conservative” candidate, Aécio Neves is a center-leftist who despite not being as radical as the other two candidates is no friend to pro-lifers and is also in favor of homosexual marriage. Regardless, it appears that at this point he has not managed to gain the confidence of the majority of the population and is not likely to win the election.
Due to the lack of a true conservative party, Brazil’s 2014 presidential election presents by far the worst scenario for defenders of family and life in the country in recent years.
The horizon is dark for Brazilian pro-lifers, unborn children and families, since they don’t have a real conservative option in this year’s presidential election. Having to choose the lesser of three evils, Brazilian pro-lifers find themselves in a delicate and problematic moral situation.