Brazil Advances Women’s Reproductive Rights, Allows Tubal Ligation at Age 21 

Brazil’s Family Planning Law came into effect on March 5, 2023, allowing women aged 21 and above to undergo tubal ligation without needing permission from a spouse.

The law, approved by the Brazilian Senate in August 2022, reduced the minimum age for voluntary sterilisation from 25 to 21 for adults with full legal capacity. It also removed the requirement for spousal consent for both tubal ligation and vasectomy procedures.

Women who already have at least two living children can undergo sterilisation regardless of age. The law also allows women to have the procedure immediately after childbirth.

Health law specialist Dr Renata Farah said the removal of spousal consent was the most important change introduced by the law.

“The husband’s authorisation is no longer necessary for this procedure to be performed. Women will have access to tubal ligation, just as men will have access to vasectomy, whether through the public health system or through health insurance plans,” she said.

Before the new law took effect, Brazil’s 1996 Family Planning Law required married women and men to obtain a spouse’s consent before undergoing sterilisation. The law also prohibited sterilisation immediately after childbirth.

The number of tubal ligation procedures in Brazil had already been increasing before the law changed. Tubal ligation remains one of the most widely used contraceptive methods among Brazilian women aged 15 to 49.