Poor women in the Bolsa Família program are accused of having more children in order to enroll or remain in the program. In an ethnographic study (2012-2014), we analyzed reports by five beneficiaries of the program and found exactly the opposite. The women reported that they had gone to public health services in Recife, Pernambuco State, Brazil, in hopes of avoiding more children, but that they had encountered various obstacles. Such barriers included difficulties in obtaining reversible contraception and restrictions in the supply of sterilization in these services, which increases the demand for cesarean sections. Their argument that they are beneficiaries of Bolsa Família aims to emphasize their poverty and increase the odds of obtaining sterilization (not always successful). Only two of the women had succeeded in obtaining sterilization, which they attributed to “luck” and “the grace of God” rather than as a right. The study’s findings suggest that poor women increase their offspring not because they are enrolled in Bolsa Família, but due to the lack of access to reproductive rights.
Public Policies; Reproductive Sterilization; Reproductive Rights