All Politics Are Reproductive Politics: Brazil’s Feminist Response to Religious Fundamentalism

This paper examines how the rise of conservative and religious fundamentalist movements—particularly Evangelical coalitions—has reshaped reproductive politics and fueled feminist resistance in Brazil in the twenty-first century. Focusing on the interplay between conservative actors and feminist mobilization within national borders, it investigates how religious and political discourses reframed abortion and “gender ideology” as moral, social, and national threats, and how feminist movements responded through coordinated strategies of resistance, solidarity, and public advocacy. Grounded in the history of abortion and reproductive rights, feminist activism, and the resurgence of the anti-gender movement, this study situates Brazil’s experience within the broader global context of religious fundamentalism and transnational feminist revitalization. Methodologically, it employs comparative historical analysis and draws on the Reproductive Justice (RJ) framework to examine how struggles over reproductive autonomy intersect with issues of democracy, citizenship, and social inequality. Examples of these dynamics include emblematic episodes of feminist resistance that emerged in response to legislative initiatives advanced by the Evangelical lobby in Brazil’s House of Representatives. The 2015 mobilization against Bill 5.069/2013, which sought to criminalize abortion-related information and restrict emergency care for survivors of sexual violence, marked a key moment of national feminist organization and public outcry. Similarly, the Festival Pela Vida das Mulheres in 2018 showcased the movement’s capacity to reclaim public space and articulate intersectional demands amid the conservative political wave that followed. More recently, feminist groups have mobilized against Bill 190/2024, which attempts to equate abortion performed after 22 weeks with homicide, reaffirming their defense of reproductive justice and bodily autonomy. By analyzing media, legislative debates, and feminist archives, this research illuminates the reciprocal dynamics between fundamentalist offensives and feminist resistance in Brazil. It argues that the ongoing struggle over reproductive rights reveals a broader contest over gendered citizenship, moral authority, and the limits of democracy itself. Ultimately, this study contributes to understanding how all politics are reproductive politics, where struggles over the control of bodies and reproduction shape the moral and political order of contemporary Brazil.