Brazil remains divided on the issue.

Adding anencephaly to the list of legally recognised causes for abortion ”responds to a public demand,” said Minister for Policies on Women, Nilcea Freire, a medical doctor.

Brazilian law only permits abortion in case of pregnancy resulting from rape or where the mother's life is endangered. Anancephaly had not been added to the list as such fetuses have been proven not to survive more than a few minutes after birth, stated Judge Mello.

But Attorney-General Claudio Fonteles backed the bishops, arguing ”there is life within the womb,” hence it is unlawful to end it. Fonteles said that his viewpoint, which will be presented to the Supreme Court in due course, is based entirely on legal considerations, not on his Catholic faith.

Meanwhile, Maria Betania Avila, coordinator of SOS Cuerpo -- a women's group based in Recife, the capital of the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco -- told IPS that Judge Mello's decision is a victory for the women's movement, and ”we hope it will be upheld.”

Religious institutions, especially the Roman Catholic Church, are trying to impose their dogmas on society just as they have on the question of abortion throughout history, said Avila. But democratic debate is important as Brazil is a lay state, she added.

Attempts to force the entire population of Brazil to follow the religious beliefs of one group has already had an impact on other issues, she said, complaining that the Catholic Church's condemnation of the use of condoms has hurt prevention efforts against AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).

A bio-safety bill currently working its way through the Senate includes a ban on the use of human embryonic cells for scientific research, and was approved by the lower house under pressure from religious organisations, said Avila.

Forcing a woman to carry an anancephalic fetus to term, with no prospect of giving birth to a healthy baby that will survive, ”imposes immeasurable suffering'' and reflects ''a lack of generosity, a perverted vision,” she stated.

This is like subjecting a woman to torture, turning the birth experience, which should be ”a magical moment of life” into ”a rite of death,” Luiz Roberto Barroso -- the lawyer who represented the National Confederation of Health Workers in the lawsuit fighting for legalisation of abortion in the case of anencephalic fetuses -- told the Brazilian daily 'O Globo'.

Abortion is not the right term in these cases, he argued, because ”there is no chance of life for an anancephalic fetus.” Nor does it involve a ”moral choice” between the mother's free will and a potential human life, he maintained.

Continuing with the pregnancy affects both the woman and her family, ”damaging their moral and psychological integrity,” while presenting health risks, wrote Judge Mello in his provisional ruling, in which he reiterated the medical impossibility of life for an anancephalic fetus outside the uterus.

But for the bishops' council, a fetus within the mother's womb ”has rights” which ”must be respected regardless of the phase or condition in which it is found.”

Over the last 15 years Brazilian courts have received nearly 3,000 requests for authorisation of abortions involving anancephalic fetuses, and 97 percent of these have been granted, said Thomaz Gollop, director of the Institute of Fetal Medicine and professor at the University of Sao Paulo.

A survey by the Institute showed 74 percent of couples who decided to terminate such pregnancies were Catholic, while the rest professed to other religions.

Anencephaly is not such a rare condition. The Brazilian Federation of Associations of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FEBRASGO) estimates that 0.2 percent of fetuses in Brazil suffer a partial or total lack of brain tissue, amounting to several thousand cases a year.

There are suspicions that chemical pollution is a key factor, as a high incidence of anencephaly was documented in Cubatao -- a highly polluted industrial city 70 km from Sao Paulo -- in the 1980s and in agricultural areas where large amounts of toxic herbicides and pesticides are used.

But there is also evidence of links with a shortage of folic acid, and the number of cases of the malformation has been falling since supplements have been added to food products.