Brazil Enacts Law Regulating Doulas Nationwide

Overview

• The law, published Thursday in the government’s official gazette, took effect immediately and applies across public and private services.
• Patients may choose a doula during labor and the immediate postpartum period, including in complications or abortion care, with no extra hospital fee.
• To practice, doulas must hold a high school diploma and complete a qualification course of at least 120 hours, with an exception for those with three years of proven experience.
• The statute forbids medical tasks by doulas, including handling clinical equipment, giving medications, or performing nursing, physiotherapy, or medical procedures.
• The measure integrates doulas into maternal care teams without creating an employment bond, and health leaders link it to efforts to cut cesarean rates and reduce obstetric violence, with a separate midwives bill still pending in Congress.