News

BRAZIL, March 2, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Brazil’s most popular soap opera, Foolish Heart, aired an episode yesterday in which one of the main characters is dissuaded from aborting her child to please her boyfriend, and to protect her job prospects.

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“Carol,” played by Camila Pitanga, waits her turn in an abortion clinic, accompanied by a friend, while her sister “Alice,” played by Paloma Bernardi, rushes to the facility to prevent what the Globo TV network calls “the worst error of her life.”

Arriving at the clinic, Alice implores her sister to change her mind: “Consider that one day, years from now, you’re going to run into [boyfriend] André, and you’re going to realize that he doesn’t mean anything to you anymore.”

“This man isn’t the first nor the last jerk in the world,” Alice continues.  “Because of him, you’re going to give up the greatest joy of your life? You’re going to let his egotism win?”

Alice begins to weep, recalling that her own parents had not planned on her conception.

Carol, moved, protests that her child could interfere with her career. “This pregnancy came at a bad moment, there’s my promotion…,” she says.

“If André were happy with it, overjoyed to be a father, you would throw [the baby] away anyway, because of your job?” asks Alice.

Carol begins to cry as well, and embraces her sister, deciding not to proceed with the abortion.

Although the Globo network has a record of supporting the cause of decriminalized abortion in Brazil, its decision to air an episode that is sympathetic to the pro-life position may reflect a growing hostility to abortion in Brazilian society.

In recent years an increasingly large majority of Brazilians have indicated their rejection of decriminalized abortion, as well as the homosexual political agenda, in response to campaigns waged by Catholic and Protestant religious leaders in the country.

In Brazil’s recent presidential election, winner Dilma Rousseff was forced to retreat from her pro-abortion position, promising in a signed statement not to introduce legislation to decriminalize abortion or criminalize speech against homosexual behavior, following criticism of her policies by pro-lifers.

In a poll following the elections, 64% of representatives in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies who responded said that they opposed policies to decriminalize abortion, signaling an abandonment of the ruling Labor Party’s pro-abortion position in the face of overwhelming public opposition.