Justice gives Lula 15 days to present plan on free sanitary pads – 03/09/2023 – Panel

Federal judge Marcus Livio Gomes, from the 12th federal court of Rio de Janeiro, determined that the federal government should present, within 15 days, a plan to comply with the law that created the program for the free distribution of sanitary pads.

The decision was based on an action filed by the civil association Criola and reinforced by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, through a statement by the Public Prosecutor in Rio de Janeiro, Julio Araujo Junior.

In the text, the magistrate writes that the State needs to assure people who menstruate the basic right to basic items of hygiene and sanitation conditions, already recognized by law, and demands the regulation of the law and the transfer of financial resources by the Single System of Health (SUS). The period provided for by law expired in July last year.

This Wednesday (8), Lula signed a decree providing for the free distribution of pads. According to the Ministry of Health, R$ 418 million per year will be allocated to the program, which will benefit around 8 million people. Cisgender women, trans men, transmasculine people, non-binary and intersex people who menstruate will be able to access pads for free.

In the evaluation of the attorney Julio Araujo, the decree converges with the action and indicates paths, but needs more planning, especially in relation to the application of resources.

In October 2021, then-president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) vetoed the proposal for the free distribution of pads, which was included in a bill signed by 35 parliamentarians. In March 2022, Congress overrode Bolsonaro’s veto, instituting the Program for the Protection and Promotion of Menstrual Health.

Even so, no measures were taken to implement the program by the federal administration in the following months.

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