A journalistic story, published by El País Brasil, reports episodes of the police raid in Jacarezinho Favela, which resulted on the death of 25 people. Much have already been written on Brazilian and foreign press about the episode, so I will not write about the operation itself.
But El País Brasil story is still worth mentioning, because it portrays a fact that bothers me a lot since childhood: poor, miserable women's appalling fertility rates.
The story mentions a 42 year old woman, named Joice Pereira, and her 8, eight children. You may argue that I have nothing to do with another woman's family size, her decisions on family size. But I tell you: yes, I do, because I doubt that this woman ever planned to have 8 children. So why did she have so many kids?
Because Brazilian law and doctors make almost impossible for a woman to get a tubal ligation. Health services often deny women an IUD, refusing the dispositive to women who have no children. Brazilian government has never carried out a planned parenthood campaign.
We have a population bomb down here. COVID-19 pandemic is making things worse.
We were 90 million Brazilians in 1970. Now we are over 210 million.
Something is very wrong with us.
In addition, poor, miserable women unable to avoid pregnancies get more and more trapped in poverty. If poverty is difficult without children, or with one child, with several is intractable.
I do not think children deserve to be born in miserable, violent places.
Far-right, religious-oriented politicians worsen the problem.
I hope my readers take action and pressure Brazilian government to make contraception easily accessible to women, tubal ligation inclusive.
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