Jair Bolsonaro, during an event on women and the family, last Saturday, September 3. SILVIO AVILA (AFP)
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday ratified a bill that ends the requirement of the express consent of the husband or wife for Brazilians who undergo a tubal ligation or vasectomy.
The decision, which takes effect in 180 days, comes less than a month before the first round of presidential elections.
Bolsonaro's sanction of a law seen as progressive, and that takes into account a series of advances in reproductive and women's rights, comes at a very delicate moment for the president in his electoral dispute against former president and favorite Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The rejection of the current president is especially pronounced among the female electorate (it reaches 55%), and young people.
The measure approved by the Brazilian Senate on August 10 and, now sanctioned by Bolsonaro, modifies a 1996 law on family planning.
In addition to removing the need for consent between partners, the new legislation also lowers the minimum age from 25 to 21 for one to be authorized to perform these surgical sterilization procedures.
Recently, on August 28, in the first (and possibly only) meeting between Bolsonaro and Lula in a presidential debate, the president was strongly criticized for attacking a female journalist during one of his interventions in the Band TV face-to-face .
Bolsonaro is also known for resorting to misogynistic speeches since before his arrival to the presidency.
The polls also help understand why Bolsonaro needs to improve his image.
On September 1, the Datafolha survey showed that the far-right politician remained stable with 32% of voting intentions.
Lula, for his part, has seen support drop by two percentage points, but still has 45%, a lead considered good just a month before the vote.
In addition, figures from Datafolha, in May, show that the preference for Bolsonaro is lower among women compared to men, regardless of purchasing power.
The approval of the law to allow tubal ligation without the husband's authorization is presented as an attempt to change this scenario.
The changes
The new law promulgated on September 5 also provides for the sterilization of women or men under the age of 21 in the event that they have two living children.
In the original text, sterilization could not be performed during childbirth or abortion.
The new law now opens the possibility for the procedure to be performed during birth.
But it is still necessary (as in the 1996 text) for the woman to express her interest in sterilization at least 60 days before delivery, which specialists say she can avoid by making a sudden decision.
The change has impacts above all on women.
The project's rapporteur, Senator Nilda Gondim (MDB-PB), said while the law was debated in the Senate in August that "the approval of the bill will equate the legislation of Brazil with that of countries such as Canada, France, Germany, Argentina and Colombia”.
She also advocated giving women "the right to decide if she wants to use the contraceptive method or not."
According to a Bayer survey in collaboration with the Brazilian Federation of Obstetrics Associations (Febrasgo), about 62% of Brazilian women have had at least one unplanned pregnancy, more than the world average of unwanted pregnancies (40%).
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