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Free womb laws (Spanish: Libertad de vientres, Portuguese: Lei do Ventre Livre), also referred to as free birth or the law of wombs, was a 19th century judicial concept in several Latin American countries, that declared that all wombs bore free children. All children are born free, even if the mother is enslaved.
The law granted freedom to children born to enslaved mothers after September 18, 1868, a date chosen to honor of the liberal revolution that swept Spain in 1869. [4] The Moret Law was made to not only grant a free womb for enslaved women, but it was also made to ensure that children were not separated from their mothers if they were under 14 ...
The law did not define the exact legal status of enslaved women's wombs; this was negotiated by enslaved people afterwards, with women at the forefront. [ 1 ] The law was the beginning of an abolition movement in Brazil , but it turned out to be more of a legal loophole than a radical measure that led to viable progress.
As a direct result of freedom suits such as those filed by Elizabeth, the Virginian House of Burgesses passed the legal doctrine of partus sequitur ventrem, noting that "doubts have arisen whether children got by an Englishmen upon a negro woman should be slave or free".
Starting in the early 19th century, the concept of gradual abolition spread from the US to Latin America, where it became known as Freedom of wombs. Abraham Lincoln proposed an amendment to the Constitution for gradual emancipation in 1861 and 1862, culminating with the Second Message to Congress in December 1862.
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Freedom of wombs, laws automatically freeing children of slaves at birth Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Free birth .
Freedom of wombs; P. Pastorale officium; S. Sublimis Deus This page was last edited on 19 April 2014, at 22:24 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons ...