RIO DE JANEIRO — Alarm in recent months over the Zika virus, which many researchers believe can cause microcephaly in the fetuses of pregnant women, has prompted calls inside and outside Brazil to loosen a near-ban on abortion in the world’s most populous Catholic country.

The growing national debate is also spilling into the courts, and may intensify.

A judge in the central city of Goiania has said he will authorize abortions in severe cases of microcephaly, a birth defect that limits brain development in fetuses. Some of the nation’s top newspapers have run editorials urging that abortion laws be revisited.

Abortion is illegal in Brazil except in cases of rape, danger to the mother’s life, or anencephaly, another birth defect involving the brain.

A prominent group of attorneys and psychologists is preparing a lawsuit calling for women infected with Zika during their pregnancies to be allowed to get legal abortions.

Latin American nations experiencing outbreaks have urged women to put off pregnancies. But critics say the recommendation is impractical in a region where access to sex education, contraception, and prenatal care is precarious.

ASSOCIATED PRESS