Quem tem direito à maternidade? Um olhar sobre o acolhimento compulsório de bebês em Belo Horizonte-MG (Brasil)

Abstract

This paper has the objective of presenting and discussing the right to motherhood taking into consideration gender, race and class issues. Focusing on the Belo Horizonte context and the recommendations and rulings that foresaw the “removal of newborns” from their mothers, still at the maternity hospital, I discuss here the representations made by the media on motherhood of women that live or lived in the streets or that were, in some stage of their lives, considered as “drug users”. In Belo Horizonte, the controversy regarding the “removal of babies” started with the publication of two recommendations of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in 2014 and a Ruling of the Child and Youth Welfare Court Division in 2016, which were considered to have led to an increase of cases directing newborns compulsorily to shelters. The Ruling was suspended in August 2017 after mobilization of social movements, health professionals and other public entities, but reports that the practice continues have surfaced along with cases of mothers pointing out the arbitrariness in the process of losing family power. The compulsory sheltering of babies brings to light crucial matters when considering the public/ private dimensions of motherhood and the relationship between class/race and the right to motherhood, since the targets of such policies are the women of the more impoverished layers of society, many of them living in the streets.