(LifeSiteNews) — During a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland last weekend, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro reiterated his opposition to abortion and the LGBT agenda.

“When you speak of conservatism … we fight for … family. We don’t want gender ideology! We want boys to grow with the teachings of the father and daughters, of their mother,” he exclaimed.

“Life from its conception was always defended by us against abortion,” he also asserted.

Bolsonaro, who has never admitted defeat to current Brazilian president and convicted money launderer Lula da Silva, announced last month that he intends to lead the opposition party in his home country. He has been living in Florida on a visa for the past several months.

During his time in office, the populist, unvaccinated leader promoted the pro-life message on a number of occasions. After the overturning of Roe v. Wade, he expressed strong support for the unborn in a series of tweets asking God to “give strength and wisdom” to those who “protect” unborn children. When Argentina legalized abortion in December 2020, he condemned the decision in the strongest of terms on social media. In May 2022, he met with the founder of Jesus Menino, a pro-life community that cares for disabled children.

Bolsonaro, a Catholic, has also enjoyed what he has called an “exceptional” relationship with former U.S. President Donald Trump. In Bolsonaro’s remarks last week, he hit on themes that suggested he, like Trump, is laying the groundwork for another presidential run.

“I always defended freedom. I did not force anyone to be vaccinated in Brazil,” the 67-year-old declared. “They keep saying, ‘science, science, science’ – what I say is ‘freedom, freedom, freedom.’”

“In Brazil, private property finds itself threatened,” he continued. “Private property is one of the pillars of democracy.”

“In my government, I freed to the maximum that the law allows the ownership and carrying of firearms … An armed people will never be enslaved. An armed country will never be subjugated.”

Abortion has long been illegal in Brazil, except for rape and protecting the mother’s life. However, President Lula, who has been an outspoken supporter of the COVID vaccine, has taken steps to roll back protections for preborn children. In January, his government announced that it would withdraw from the pro-life Geneva Consensus, an international declaration that Bolsonaro and Trump both signed. Lula has also loosened other restrictions Bolsonaro put into place during his tenure.

After a heavily disputed loss in 2022, which some activists believe was stolen, Bolsonaro challenged the results in court but decided to keep a low profile when the country’s liberal judges sided against him. Speculation soon began to grow that the Brazilian military would intervene to prevent Lula from being sworn in. While those rumors ultimately proved to be unfounded, Bolsonaro’s supporters protested across the country and, later, stormed the Brazilian Capitol. Media outlets inevitably compare their actions to the events that occurred in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021. In recent months, liberal U.S. lawmakers have called on the Biden administration to “extradite” Bolsonaro, who has condemned the riots, back to Brazil so he can, as they say, be held accountable for provoking the uprising.

Bolsonaro told his captivated CPAC audience last Saturday that while he thanks God for having allowed him to be president “for one term,” he deeply feels that “this mission is not over” – a likely indicator that he is already committed to running for re-election in 2026.