Sexual and reproductive rights of women in Brazil and the state of exception in Adelir's case/ Direitos sexuais e reprodutivos da mulher no Brasil e o estado de excecao no caso Adelir

This paper considers Brazilian historical and political context, with a discussion on obstetric violence, humanized birth and sexual and reproductive rights. We propose a critical reflection on the practices of power in Brazilian society today, using Adelir's case, the pregnant woman who was forced by the Brazilian state to have a cesarean surgery on April 1, 2014. The state of exception enunciated by Walter Benjamin and developed by Giorgio Agamben, combined with contemporary feminist critical perspectives, represented by Nancy Fraser, are the theoretical frameworks in this article The hypothesis discussed is that Brazilian law still admits that exceptional measures are turned, in fact, into the very technique of powers in relation to women. In conclusion, we observe that the discourses of normality and of garantism conceal practices of power that prevent women from participating as peers in a society that is still patriarchal and sexist.