Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article presents reflections by researchers from the Gender, Reproduction and Justice Research Group/RepGen on the place of reproductive bodies within Brazil's National Policy on Care (PNaC), analyzed through a reproductive justice lens. The first section contextualizes the study. The second synthesizes the policy's main concepts, highlighting elements relevant to the discussion. We then address the absence of reproductive body care work in the policy and examine the challenge PNaC faces in defining its specificities in relation to other public policies centered on care, especially Health. In the fourth section, we argue that although the PNaC identifies care workers as a priority group, it still fails to incorporate their own reproductive care needs, overlooking issues such as menstrual dignity and abortion. Despite these gaps, the policy creates room to imagine more equitable care models. We conclude that recognizing the care of reproductive bodies as a strategic dimension of social and reproductive justice-and as a transversal axis of the PNaC-would be a decisive step toward confronting the patriarchal, racist, and capitalist order that regulates bodies, knowledge, and reproductive experiences.
Source: Ciência & Saúde Coletiva
Institutions: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Language: Portuguese
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7203631732