A new juridical and penal order was implanted in Brazil in the beginning of the 1940's, during the Estado Novo, the political regime under Getúlio Vargas' government. Rio de Janeiro was the republic capital then. Abortion was classified as crime and prosecution legalism tried to convey litigious situations inside the courts. This article aims at analyzing how the judicial procedures, on which judiciary power denounced women for abortive practices, were conducted.
juridical and penalculture; women's condition; abortion