An Interview with the Brazilian Abortion Rights Activist Behind Miles for Women's Lives

The past few years have been challenging for abortion rights in Brazil. Emboldened pro-life groups and even the government, headed by staunch anti-choice president Jair Bolsonaro, have tried to thwart discussions of abortion in the media and, more than once, tried to stop young rape victims from accessing the right to legal abortion.

But progress has also been recently made in the country. For example, in 2019, producer, screenwriter, and activist Juliana Reis launched the initiative “Milhas pela Vida das Mulheres (Miles for Women’s Lives),” which helps more than 200 women each month access legal abortion in Brazil in cases where the abortion is legal, and abroad in cases where it is not.

The FBomb talked to Reis about the past, present, and future of Miles for Women’s Lives.

Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

What inspired you to create Miles for Women’s Lives?

I think that the first big inspiration for the initiative is every gesture of civil disobedience made in the past century, every gesture of a woman not caring for the moral or religious discourse, and every solution, every attitude of self-determination.

Because of my professional life, visual artists are also big inspirations.There is the documentary Vessel, which follows Rebecca Gomperts, a Dutch physician who sailed to countries that forbade abortion, inviting women to come aboard her ship to exercise their self-determination, their freedom of choice. In 1977, Agnès Varda made the film One Sings, the Other Doesn’t, which tells the story of a generation of French women who fought for abortion rights in the streets, and a group of women who travel once a month by bus from Paris to Amsterdam to exercise their self-determination.

Could you describe what a normal day working at Miles for Women’s Lives is like?

Many times, the day begins late at night, when the phone keeps ringing and cries for help arrive via WhatsApp. The following morning, we see these messages, and cries for help that have arrived by other means, including Facebook, Instagram, and e-mail. We invite them to talk more about their situation, the context of their unwanted pregnancy, so we can know how we can help them. We ask them to fill out a form to fully understand their situation — economically, psychologically, emotionally, morally, about her support network and so on. After the form is filled, we’ll know if she has the documents to travel abroad, if she has the support to travel abroad, or if her case can be treated in Brazil (if she is victim of sexual assault, if there is a fetal malformation, etc.).

It’s important to say that we have no opinion about an unwanted pregnancy. Our only opinion is that the woman’s decision is sacred. We always embrace the women and treat them respectfully, without judgment. These women also have to be the protagonist of their situation, but we’ll provide juridical, medical, and psychological support — whenever is necessary. We’ll be with her until the end of this episode and forever. We’ll accompany the woman until she says she doesn’t need our help anymore and, if she needs help again, we’ll be there for her. We have this motto: “women helping women, those who can helping those in need, those who want to change the law helping those who can’t wait for this change.”

Most women who look for Miles for Women’s Lives don’t know they have the right to legal abortion. What can we do to educate more women about their rights?

We have a survey we ask women to answer after they pass through the procedure to find out where there are holes and how we can fix them. One of the questions in the survey asked to women who had legal abortions in Brazil’s public health care system is “Before arriving at the Miles, did you know you had the right to legal abortion?” It’s a surprise that 80% of women answer NO to this question. It’s a huge number especially in a country that has huge rates of violence against women. That so many women don’t know how to access their rights to health, life, and freedom is a very serious question.

How to change this reality? I think the first thing we need to do is to convince society that you can’t be a mom without wanting to be one. Being a mother is an everyday act that takes years. You need to want to raise citizens, raise a conscious population, and a conscious country.

Have you ever been the target of hate attacks?

I’m very proud to declare that to this day we have never suffered a hate attack. We’re responsible, we worry a lot about our safety, and also about the safety and freedom of every woman that reaches us. It’s true that people can write messages on social media, like threatening us with passages of the Bible, but I tell those people to get out and they usually do just that. The hate is then over.

How can people who don’t live in Brazil help your organization?

Thank you so much for this question — it’s very important because without help we don’t go far. We ask for donations, creators and artists offer us items for us to sell. I’ll use this moment to thank the spokesperson of our annual sale of art objects, Adriana Varejão. We have the subscription at Benfeitoria, only for people from Brazil, but we also have PayPal with the e-mail doações@milhaspelavidadasmulheres.com.br.

From anywhere in the world, in any currency, you can use PayPal to help us. We have a medium cost of four to five thousand reais (about a thousand dollars) per woman, so every donation matters.