Unborn Statute

UPDATE: This is the original text of the Statute proposal, but it's not the text that was approved. I just discovered this. I've read the approved text and will translate it later today. It's less severe, but it still has language that bans all abortions, without the exceptions stipulated in the 1940 Penal Code.


This is the translation of the bill that's in the process of approval in the Brazilian Congress that creates the "Statute of the Unborn". Abortion is already illegal in Brazil, but this bill eliminates the exceptions in case of rape and health risks, gives full personhood to fetuses and embrios and establishes jail time for anyone who even speaks badly of fetuses.
There's a petition here intended to put pressure against the bill on House representatives.
 I'm sorry this post is so long, but it's the full text of the bill. Here's the original on the House site.

                                    National Congress decreets:

Of the preliminary dispositions

Art. 1 This Law disposes about the integral protection of the unborn.

Art. 2 Unborn is the human being conceived but not yet born.

- The concept of  unborn includes the human beings conceived “in vitro”, the ones produced through cloning or other scientific and ethically accepted means.

Art. 3 The unborn acquires juridical personhood by being born with life, but his human nature is recognized since conception, confering him juridical protection through this statute and the civil and penal law.

- The unborn owns the expectation of  the right to life, to physical integrity, honor, image, and all other rights of personhood.

Art. 4 It’s the duty of family, society and State to secure to the unborn, with absolute priority, the expectation to the right to life, health, food, dignity, respect, liberty and family acquaintanceship, besides making him safe from all forms of neglect, discrimination, exploitation, violence, cruelt and oppression.

Art. 5 No unborn will be object of any form of neglect, discrimination, exploitation, violence, cruelty and oppression, being punish, by law, any attempt, by action or omission, on the expectation of its rights.

Art. 6 In the interpretation of this law, it will be considered the social ends to which it’s directed, the exigences of the common good, the rights and duties individual and collective, and the peculiar condition of the unborn as future person in development.

Of the fundamental rights

Art. 7 The unborn must be object of social public policy that allows its healthy and hamonious development and its birth, in conditions worthy of existence.

Art. 8 To the unborn it’s assured, through the Unified Health System - SUS, being served in condition of equality with the child.

Art. 9 It’s vetoed to the State and particulars to discriminate against the unborn, depriving him of the expectation of any right, for reason of sex, age, ethnicity, origin, physical or mental disability, or probability of survival.

Art. 10 The unborn with a disability will Access to every existing therapeutical and prophylatic methods to prevent, repair or minimize his disabilities, with or without expectation of extra-uterine life.

Art. 11 The pre-natal diagnose will respect the development and the integrity of the unborn, and it will aim for his safeguard or his individual cure.

            § 1 The pre-natal  diagnose will be preceded  of the parents’ consent, so that they will be satisfactorily informed.

§ 2 It is vetoed the use of pre-natal diagnose methods that put the mother or the unborn in disproportional or unnecessary risks.

Art. 12 It is vetoed to the  State and particulars to cause any damage to the unborn by criminal act commited by any of its parents.

Art. 13 The unborn conceived in an act of sexual violence will not suffer any discrimination or restriction of rights, assuring him, still, the following:

I – prioritary right to pre-natal assistance, with psychological assistance to the pregnant woman;

II – right to child support equal to 1 (one) minimum wage, until it’s 18 years old;

III – prioritary right to adoption, in case the mother doesn’t want to accept the child after birth.

- If the father is identified, it will be him the one responsible for the child support referred in the subsection I of this article; if not identified, or insolvent, the duty will fall on the State.

Art. 14 The donation made to the unborn will be valid, being accepted by its legal representative.

Art. 15 Always when, in the exercise of familial power, the interest of the parents conflicts with the interest of the unborn, the Public Ministery will require to the judge that he gives him special curator.

Art. 16 It will be given curator to the unborn, if the father dies while the woman is pregnant, and not having familial power.

- If the woman is declared incompetent, her curator will be the unborn’s.

Art. 17 The unborn has legitimacy to inherit.

Art. 18 The woman who, to ensure the rights of the unborn child, wants to proof her state of pregnancy, will require to the judge that, after hearing the Public Ministery, order her examined by a doctor of his nomination.

§ 1 The requirement will be instructed with the death certificate of the person of whom the unborn is the heir.

§ 2 The examination will be dispensed if the heirs of the deceased accept the applicant’s declaration.

§ 3 In no case the lack of examination will damage the rights of the unborn.

Art. 19 Once presented the report that recognizes the pregnancy, the judge will, by sentence, declare the applicant invested in the rights that help the unborn.

- If the applicant doesn’t own familial power, the judge will nominate curators to the unborn.

Art. 20 The unborn will be represented judicially, active and passivelly, by whoever owns familial power, or by special curator.

Art. 21 The material or moral damages suffered by the unborn give rise to civil reparation.

Of the species of crimes

Art. 22 The crimes foreseen in this law are of unconditional public action.

Art. 23 To cause (by conscious action without intent) the death of unborn:

Penalty – detention from 1 (one) to 3 (three) years.

§ 1 The penalty is increased by one third if the crime results from non-observance of technical rule of profession, art or craft, or if the agent doesn’t give immediate help to the victim, doesn’t attempt to diminish the consequences of his act, or runs away to avoid arrest.

§ 2 The judge might not apply the penalty, if the consequences of infraction affect the agent in such severe ways that penal sanction  becomes unnecessary.

Art. 24 To advertise procedure, substance or object intended to cause abortion:

Penalty – detention from 1 (one) to 2 (two) years and fine.

- The penalty is increased by one third if the procedure, substance or object are presented as if they were purely contraceptive.

Art. 25 To freeze, manipulate or use unborn as experiment material:

Penalty – detention from 1 (one) to 3 (three) years and fine.  

Art. 26 To refer to unborn with words or expressions manifestly derogatory:

Penalty – detention from 1 (one) to 6 (six) months and fine.

 Art. 27 To exhibit or distribute, by any communication means, information or images derogatory or injurious to the person of the unborn:

Penalty – detention from 6 (six) months to 1 (one) year and fine.

Art. 28 To make publicly apology of abortion or who practiced it, or publicly incitate its practice:

Penalty – detention from 6 (six) months to 1 (one) year and fine.

Art. 29 To induce pregnant woman to practice abortion or offer her the opportunity to practice it:

Penalty – detention from 1 (one) to 2 (two) years and fine.

Final dispositions

Art. 30 The arts. 124, 125 e 126 of Penal Code (Law-decree number 2.848, December 7th of 1940) are ammended to the following wording:

“Art. 124..................................................................................

...............................................................................................

Penalty – reclusion from 1 (one) to 3 (three) years (NR).

“Art. 125.................................................................................

..............................................................................................

Penalty – reclusion from 6 (six) to 15 (fifteen) anos (NR).

“Art. 126..................................................................................

................................................................................................

Penalty – reclusion from 4 (four) to 10 (ten) years (NR)”.

Art. 31 The art. 1 of Law 8.072, from July 25th of 1990 (Law of Heinous Crimes), is ammended to add the following subsection VIII:

“Art. 1 ....................................................................................

................................................................................................

VIII – abortion (arts. 124 to 127) (NR)”.

Art. 32 This law will become valid after a hundred and twenty days of its official publication.

JUSTIFICATION

In March 25th of 2004, the Senate of the United States of America approved a bill that grants to the unborn child the status of person, in the case of a crime. In April 1st, president George W. Bush sanctioned the law, called “Unborn Victims of Violence Act”. From now on, by North-american law, if someone causes the death or lesion to a child in his mother’s womb, he’ll answer criminally for the death or lesion to the baby, besides death or lesion to the pregnant woman.

In Italy, in march 2004, a law became valid that gives to human embrios the same rights of a citizen.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea if Brazil, following these good examples, promulgate a law that disposed exclusively of the integral protection to the unborn, as determined by the Pact of São José of Costa Rica, signed by our country. Here is a proposal of the “Statute of the Unborn”, that we offer to our Parliamentary Colleagues. If approved and sanctioned, it might become a historical mark in our legislation.

The present bill, called “Statute of the Unborn”, lists all the rights inherent to him, in the quality of child to be born. In truth, the project refers to the expectation of rights that, as it’s known, enjoy juridical protection, might be ensured by all morally and legally accepted means. Several of these rights, already foreseen in sparse laws, were compiled in this present Statute. For example, the right of the unborn to receive donation (art. 542 Civil Code), of receiving a special curator when his interests conflict with the interests of his Parents (art. 1.692 Civil Code), of being adopted (art. 1.621, Civil Code),of inheriting (art. 1.798 and 1.799, Civil Code), of being born (Statute of the Child and Adolescent, art. 7), of receiving from the judge a sentence declaring his rights after proved pregnancy of his mother (arts. 877 and 878, Civil Process Code).

The present Statute intends to make integral the protection to the unborn, above all in what refers to the rights of personhood. It’s highlighted the right to life, to health, to honor, physical integrity, food, familial acquaintanceship, and it’s forbidden any form of discrimination that might deprive him of any right, for reason of sex, age, ethnicity, appearance, origin, physical or mental disability, expectation of survival or crimes commited by his parents.

The proliferation of abuse of unborn human being, including the manipulation, freezing, discarding and commerce of human embrios, the sentencing babies to death for physical disabilities or because of crimes commited by his parents, the plans to clone and kill babies with the only objective of transplanting his cells to sick adults, all of this requires that, as other countries like Italy, a law be promulgated that says “enough” to such atrocities.

Other inovation of the present Statute is the penal part. It’s created the culpable modality of abortion (until now it’s only punishable if intentional), the crime (that today it’s only contravention) of advertising procedure, substance or object intended to cause abortion, several other crimes against the person of the unborn are listed and, finally, abortion is framed among the heinous crimes.

We make a point of transcribing a quote of a recent article published in the juridical magazine Consulex, authored by the illustrous prosecuter of the Jury Court of Federal District, Dr. Maria José Miranda Pereira:

As Justice Prosecutor of the Jury Court, in the constitutional mission of defending human life, and also as woman and mother, I repudiate abortion as a nefarious crime. By incoherence of our juridical planning, abortion isn’t included in the heinous crimes (Law 8.072/90), when it should be the first of them. Though abortion is the most coward of all murders, it’s punished so lightly that it ends up framed among the crimes of minor offensive potential (Law of Special Courts 9.099/95). I note, with sadness, the devaluation of the unborn’s life.

The methods used commonly in an abortion can’t be commented during a meal. The baby is dismembered (abortion by curettage), aspired in pieces (abortion by suction), poisoned by a solution that corrodes its skin (abortion by saline poisoning) ou simply removed alive and left to die (abortion by c-section). Many take too long to die, being necessary direct action to kill them, if they don’t want to throw them in the dump still alive. If such procedures were used to kill a child already born, with no doubt the crime would be qualified homicide. By an inexplicable prejudice of place, if such atrocities are commited inside the womb (and not outside it), the crime is of second or third degree, a “crime of bagatelle.”

The noble representative Givaldo Carimbão had the idea of including abortion among the heinous crimes. This suggestion is accepted in the present Statute. It’s true that the penalties will still be small for such barbarian crime, but there will be a significative advance in our penal legislation. The best of all is that, recognizing abortion as a heinous crime, it won’t be possible anymore to suspend the process, as it’s usually done nowadays, submitting the criminal to symbolic restrictions like: prohibition of attending certain places, prohibition of leaving the region of residence without judicial authorization, attendance personal and compulsory to court, monthly, to inform and justify activities, etc. (cf Law 9.099/95, art. 89).

As it’s an inovating project, that treats systematically of a subject never treated in other laws, I ask a special attention from the noble peers. It would be tremendous injustice if this proposal were treated in conjunction with so many others, that treat only of small portions of the theme that here is proposed.  

We hope that this House of Laws will strive to approve as soon as possible this Statute, for the joy of the children to be born and for the pride of this nation, as well as the joy of the ex-representative Osmânio Pereira who asked us to again put this new legislation to proceed.

Sessions Room, in ___ of _____________ of 2007.

Representative Luiz Bassuma (PT/BA)                                                  

Representative Miguel Martini (PHS/MG)

Worst idea ever

When it's almost midnight, and you're working on the most complicated lace you've ever made, when you have a chart you can barely understand and your progress is slow because you need to stare at the chart at all times, and you find a stitch several rows below that is actually in the right place, and there's no visible mistake (for a relative value of visible), but you split the stitch (knitting between the two strands of a 2-ply yarn)...

Trying to fix it before a good night of sleep is the worst idea ever.

I'm going to leave it until tomorrow, and then I'll try again. If I can't fix it, there goes 2 days of progress.

Oooops

I've been feeling guilty for the lack of posts, and always planning an awesome comeback that never appeared, so I'll just cut it and show what's going on with my spindles:

The Sassy Sheep sw merino in Katie's Rainbow on the Schacht, undyed tussah silk from World or Wool on the Jenkins Turkish Delight, blue tussah from Wingham Wool Work being plied on the Hound Dervish (singles were spun on a Bosworth Featherweight.)

Fiber Optic Siren Song Unspun (after handcarding) on the Gripping Yarn russian, AbbyBatts in Estreno on the pink ivory Spanish Peacock russian, just-begun Ashland Bay in McKenzie on the tulipwood Spanish Peacock (not sure if I'll go on with this fiber/spindle combo yet.)

Smoke tendrils

I felt like I've been on the brink of finishing this shawl for ages, and never really got to it. It's finally done! Remember this yarn? It's all grown up now:

The pattern is High Seas, by Kieran Foley, knit with my own handspun (light gray cashmere/mulberry silk), less than 800 yards on 3,75mm needles. The pattern has a pretty long repeat, 40 rows, and it's partially patterned on both sides. Something I learned the hard way: pay attention to the bolded lines dividing the different zones on the chart. I didn't, and ended up repeating the whole chart for the starting border, instead of only the 2 central squares that make the eyelets. When I was done I ended up frogging the starting border stitch by stitch, from the cast-on edge, and re-knitting it using the finishing border chart. Way too much work that could have been easily avoided.

Like the yarn, the shawl changes its colour depending on the light conditions. This pic, where it looks really gray, shows very well the white spots on the yarn, from where the silk got more concentrated:

In a different light it looks a little brown, or even a little golden:

Notice too how the cashmere gives the shawl a little, subtle halo, while the silk makes it look a little shiny, and the lots of twist on the yarn give a crispy stitch definition:

My favourite part is the little waves, though. I've already blocked the shawl, but they still have movement and texture.

And they make cute bumps on the purl side too.

On how to wear shawls

Sometimes I see comments about how nobody ever wears shawls nowadays and how they're not only not useful, but also not decorative, because they look like granny clothes. I think that's because people forgot. They don't know how to wear them anymore. For all the fineness and light weight, shawls can be surprisingly warm, so they're a good substitute for a jacket on cool nights, or for layering when you're going to some place where the air conditioning will be strong. And they're easy to remove and put in a bag when they're not needed anymore, unlike jackets.

This is the most simple way to wear a shawl. Just throw it over your shoulders, and you're good to go. Except after a while it starts to slide off, and you get annoyed and tired of keeping adjusting it all the time. One solution is to just tie it on the front, but I don't really like that. I like tieing it on the back:

I prefer to do it with circular and semi-circular shawls, but triangles work too. I think it looks great with a strapless dress or top, and besides warming up the shoulders and back (and arms, depending on the size), it's a way of showing less skin. For weddings, for example. Chic and modest for the church, easily removable for the party.

Same idea, different setting, great for low-cut tops:

Put the center over one shoulder, cross the points over the other shoulder, and fix it in place with a shawl pin or a brooch.
Or you could just roll it a little and wear it as a scarf.

I really like this option, but it's not equatorial zone friendly.
All pics were taken with the Aeolian shawl I just finished, so the effect might vary with different shapes or sizes, and of course there are lots of other possibilities that I didn't cover, or even thought about.

Double FO

I got two things to show. First, I blocked the Raspberry Rhapsody scarf (ravlink) that I've shown unblocked weeks ago.

The wrong side looks very cool too:

Knit on Knitpicks Palette yarn, 5.5mm needles, violently blocked.
And then I finished an Aeolian shawl that passed by unmentioned. I knit it with Knitpicks Bare Merino Lace, and dyed after the fact with cake dyes. The dye didn't take uniformly (my fail), but I think it doesn't look too bad.

I misread the pattern and knit one extra repeat of the Agave leaves, when I wanted to knit the smallest size. I expected a scarf, but it ended up huge. I think it'd still be large even without the extra repeat. Maybe because I used 3.75mm needles.

And because I'm a merciless blocker.

How my hubris was kicked on the butt

I used to think that, since I learned how to purl, nothing was difficult in knitting. Complex, maybe. Requiring attention, counting stitches, needing brute force to stick the needles in (nupps, I'm looking at you), but as long as I focused it would come out allright. Circular cast-on for a center-out shawl was a little difficult, but I got it after 4 tries. This hat, my first all-over colorwork, kicked my butt in severa different levels, though.

The pattern, End of May (ravlink), requires light worsted weight yarn and sportweight for the lining, but I was set on knitting it and I only had Merino Style from Knitpicks, which is a DK (I used Iris and Cornflower). I went up a needle size, to 3,75mm, and started it without swatching, with NatureSpun fingering for the lining. Almost the whole time I was working I felt like it would come out too small. Everytime I tried it on the stitches stretched so bad you could almost see the floats on the inside. Halfway through the hat I kind of found my gauge, so the first repeat was way tighter than everything else. You could even see it narrower than the top of the hat. Look with attention, you really can.

And the stitches on the lighter colour, which I was holding on my right hand, look all wonky and even twisted. They're not twisted. I checked. They just look weird. Everything puckered at all directions.

Then I had to sew in the lining.

My handsewing is even worse than my gauge, but I'm content enough that it doesn't show on the outside.

I blocked the hat over a balloon and I'm really happy with the way it looks now. The puckering disappeared, and almost all stitches relaxed a little. Plus, it fits a human head.

If I had to do it again, the only thing I'd change was adding maybe half a repeat to the lenght. As it is, it's kind of a bucket hat with the size of a beanie. I think it's a really cute pattern, very easy and straightforward, regardless of my lack of skills. I also think my lack of skills is a little smaller now, that I got a wearable item at the end, and overcame a childhood shortcoming and finally learned how to tie up a balloon in the process.

The hat will be on the mail as soon as I finish a few other items to send along. (Because a very thick 100% wool hat isn't much Equatorial weather friendly. It's a gift. Wish I could keep it.)

Creamy in the morning

Even though it was Smoky last night.

Undyed light gray cashmere/mulberry silk (50/50) from World of Wool.

The colour difference is only due to natural daylight. Silver at night, gray/beige with hints of red now. I like both. I got 802 yards from the 100g of fiber, though there were some matted bits that I discarded. shouldn't be more than a few grams, though, and I don't think it makes much difference.

Smoky

Not washed, not set, at night:

Natural light gray cashmere/mulbery silk blend.

Gentleman's Fancy Handspun

This fiber (sw merino/seacell pencil roving from FiberOptic)

became this yarn (461 yards/4oz/fingering weight)

and now these socks:

I used the Gentleman's Fancy Socks pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks (Ravlink), with a few modifications. First, because I had less yardage than recommended, I knit shorter legs. I didn't read the pattern before starting, so instead of casting on just the needed number of stitches, I cast on as if to knit knee-high socks, and did the calf decreases twice as fast as the pattern said to. I also didn't realize I was doing ktbl till well into the cuffs, so I didn't bother correcting before the leg pattern started.

Other than that, and a few gauge adjustments, I knit the pattern as written, as I plan to do with all patterns from this book. I want to try different kinds of heels and toes and see by experience which ones are my favourites. This pattern uses the French Heel, whose heel flap can be seen on the pic above, with the fake purl seam in the center. The view on the sole is this:

I think the french heel looks weird, with the triangular shaping, but it fits just right on the feet and it was easy and fun to knit, besides having the advantage of looking like a peen in almost all sides.

The Wide Toe is not new to me, and it's pointy, but I knit it anyway. I knit a couple extra plain rounds before starting the decreases, and did one less decrease round than the pattern said to, because of gauge differences. My favourite part is that in one of the socks the yarn changed colour right at the grafting, so it has this one row of darker green at its apex.

I think FiberOptic fiber is bringing me luck, my 2 favourite projects are made with her fiber. These are the best fitting socks I've knit so far, with the best sock yarn I've spun so far, and the glow from the seacell is just an added bonus. I love the way that the yarn seems to shine from within, instead of reflecting the light from outside. Of course that's just crazy talk, but it's pretty anyway.

Unblocked Porn

Right side:

Wrong side:

And the "I want to jump into this and swim":

WWSIPWTLAP Day

Today is World Wide Spin In Public While Talking Like A Pirate Day! Well, no, they're two separate events. And that's good, because I can't talk like a pirate. But I can spin in public, and I'm totally going to do that in a few minutes, when I leave the appartment, even though there isn't an organized event in my city, and even though I don't even know anyone else in the city who spins.

I've searched for spinners around here, and the only ones I found were in a distant city in the my state, but all they do is 'rustic' cotton yarn in electric wheels, to be used in souvenirs for tourists.

It might have something to do with the weather. Spinning animal fibers in this heat isn't always easy. As demonstrated by the only pict I have of me spinning:

That day was so hot that the only way to survive fiber play without air conditioning was wearing a bikini and sitting in front of a fan. And all that sun glare is coming through the closed curtains. =(

I love winter. I wish I had some.

Anyway, I was spinning this:

Natural coloured cashmere/silk blend. And I'm going to spin more of it now. In public. But I'll find a cold AC'd spot and keep my clothes on.

The things we do for love...

Handspun socks are the best

They're still toeless, but not for long. I just couldn't wait because I became fascinated with the way the colours played this morning.

They're my resting project, because the pattern is so easy I can knit it without thinking much, so I work on them when I'm tired of more complicated things. The yarn was handspun from sw merino/seacell pencil roving dyed by FiberOptic.

Simi Wings

So, this is my new shawl:

Last year, I was going through the Dark-Hunter series of books, and at some point my favourite character, the Simi, was wearing pink and black striped socks. I thought that would be a good idea to spin and knit a pair like that, and I wanted to try spinning a superwash merino/tencel blend, so I ordered some of that custom dyed by FiberOptic. I asked her for fiber alternating zones of pinks, black and grays. When the fiber arrived here, I thought it was so shiny it just kept screaming LACE at me. I didn't want striped lace, though, so I broke the top, separating the colours, and spun the pieces in order of light to dark.

It looked like this:

It ended up like this:

And then I had to choose what to do with it. I remembered how, in one scene on Dance with the Devil, Simi appears with black and blue wings, and I imagined them with wing tips being the darkest part. I chose the Lutea pattern, from Oceanwind Knits (Rav-link here), and modified it to maximize the yardage I had.

My favourite little detail of this pattern is the knitted-as-you-go leafy upper border:

But I absolutely love the Lotus Lace on the center, and the way it looks round and fluid and angular at the same time:

It took me a little calculation and charting paper to jump from Lotus Lace to the final border:

And honestly, this picture came out at a weird angle but I just can't get enough of this shawl:

And I haven't pointed out yet, but did you notice how SHINY it is? The Simi likes SHINY!

It came out huge, too, but I fail at using the timer and the focus at the same time for modelled pics, so here's a night pic with the webcam:

I think it's pretty even in the dark.

I'm imensely proud of this shawl, because it's the most hands on work I've ever done. Both the spinning and the knitting took a lot of planning, and except for the fact that it's bigger than I expected, which means better than I expected, everything else came out exactly as I wanted. I love my Simi shawl.

Wet Blocking Porn

I did have enough yarn

But barely.