The invisible magnitude of the rape of girls in Brazil

OBJECTIVE: Compare official data on notifications of sexual violence against girls aged 10 to 13 years with data on pregnancy for the same age group between 2012 and 2018. METHODS: This is an epidemiological, descriptive, cross-sectional study with data from the Department of Informatics of the Unified Health System (DATASUS) on violence against and pregnancy of girls aged 10 to 13 years from 2012 to 2018. Data on sexual violence were accessed in the Health Information System (SINAN); on pregnancy, in the Live Births Information System (SINASC), on fetal deaths, in the Mortality Information System (SIM), and on abortions, in the Hospital Admission System (SIH). RESULTS: Between 2012 and 2018, out of 136,387 pregnancies, there were 120,185 live births and 15,402 interrupted pregnancies by abortions or fetal deaths of mothers who became pregnant aged 13 years or younger. In the same period, SINAN received 46,548 notifications of sexual abuse against girls aged 10 to 13 years. The number of girls who became pregnant before the age of 14, victims of statutory rape, was 2.9 times higher than the number of cases notified to SINAN. CONCLUSION: The lack of adequate notification of statutory rapes in Brazilian official statistics leads to the underestimation of its magnitude.