Brazilian Ministry Advocates Sexual Abstinence to Prevent Early Pregnancy

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro’s government has included a new front in policies to prevent early pregnancy and safe sex among adolescents: sexual abstinence.

The ministries of Women, Family and Human Rights (MDH) and Health have developed policies to encourage youths to stop having sex, an initiative considered controversial and ineffective by scholars on the subject.

The MDH, led by Minister Damares Alves, began to prepare public events to promote sexual abstinence, under the pretext of discussing initiatives aimed at preventing teen pregnancy.

In an event on early pregnancy held in December in an auditorium of the Chamber of Deputies, the portfolio invited only advocates of sexual abstinence. The audience was essentially religious.

The ministry stated that it used as a reference “scientific studies and the normalization of waiting as an alternative for the initiation of sexual life at an appropriate age, considering the psychological, emotional, physical, social and economic advantages involved, without criticism of other prevention methods”.

At the auditorium entrance, two posters criticized the use of condoms as a prevention method and stated – without any scientific support – that the condom allows the transmission of the HIV virus.

Those in charge of the event denied any responsibility for the posters or endorsing the content expressed there. A priest collected the material at the end of the event.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Brazil has a rate of 56.4 births per thousand adolescent women in the second half of the decade – the world rate is 44 per thousand. Faced with this situation, the MDH opted for what it classifies as “sexual preservation”.

In a note, the ministry denies the promotion of abstinence as government policy: “The idea is to guarantee the empowerment of girls and boys on life planning and the consequence of their choices,” the ministry said.

“The idea of promoting sexual preservation is viewed as a strategy for reducing teenage pregnancy because it is the only 100 percent effective method and because its approach has not been implemented by previous governments”.

The MDH adds that “the prevention of sexual risk is currently a political matter in other countries with successful results in several social indicators”. The portfolio does not mention to which countries it refers and what these indicators are.

The Ministry of Health, on the other hand, has decided to put an end to the adolescent health booklet – which, in over ten years, has distributed more than 32 million copies in basic health units.

It contains information on puberty, safe sex and prevention of early pregnancy. At Bolsonaro’s request, the portfolio published a letter stating that the material “will have its distribution and use discontinued until the assessments are completed”.