This paper aims to analyze the impacts and possible changes that the implementation of a new Brazilian family planning law has on reproductive practices, especially voluntary sterilization, and to determine whether men's and women's reproductive rights are being respected. The methodological approach is based on a six-month follow-up survey taken monthly, applied to a sample of 159 individuals in six contextually different State capitals. Besides verifying whether the health sector is complying with the criteria set by the law, we analyze the waiting time between the request for sterilization and the surgery itself, utilizing survival analysis. We also conduct interviews with health professionals, shedding light on the procedures adopted in the practice of sterilization. For various reasons, the law has produced little change in the usual practice of sterilization, besides failing to satisfy individual reproductive rights.
Reproductive Health; Voluntary Sterilization; Legislation; Family Planning
