Brazil’s Lower House Committee Votes to Repeal Parental Alienation Law

Overview

• Relator Laura Carneiro argued the law was distorted into a defense strategy for alleged abusers and cited recommendations from the UN and OAS urging revocation.
• Processed in terminative fashion, the bill can go directly to the Senate unless deputies appeal to take it to the full Chamber, and no plenary date is set.
• A five-hour debate revealed deep polarization, with left-leaning parties largely supporting repeal and PL-aligned lawmakers urging reform instead of elimination.
• The 2010 statute defines parental alienation as interference in a child’s psychological formation and allows measures ranging from warnings and fines to psychological monitoring and custody reversal.
• Carneiro’s report references a Ministério Público estimate that many alienation claims arise in cases where the accused parent had been reported for violence, including a cited figure of 70%.