Juridificação da Reprodução: Mobilização do Direito e Atuação do Supremo Tribunal Federal à luz da justiça reprodutiva

Abstract

The article starts from the observation that reproduction in Brazil is marked by a process of juridification, in which law increasingly constitutes and consolidates discourses, practices, and meanings related to reproductive issues. Understanding juridification as an ambivalent and multifaceted process, the work observes the growing participation of the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) in the political disputes that mobilize the law on topics related to reproduction in the country in recent years. The aim of the work is to critically examine the role of the STF in the juridification of reproduction, assessing whether its actions effectively contribute to advancing reproductive justice. The jurisprudential analysis of selected decisions from the Court questions whether, in each case, there is: expansion of reproductive rights; considerations of an intersectional nature; reliance on biological arguments; and reference to the impacts of these rights on society as a whole, beyond women. The paper concludesthat, although deciding in relatively progressive terms in reproduction-related cases, the STF still makes little explicit reference to the reproductive rights agenda and shows limited engagement with issues of sexuality and race in cases centered on reproductive matters. It is noted that the ministers' discourses often resort to biological issues to justify specific rights in this area, although references to the social and cultural impacts of gender inequality can also be observed in their votes. In summary, the concept of reproductive justice, which emphasizes intersectionality and the variety of reproductive experiences, has a limited impact both in terms of discourse and in the content of the Court's decisions.