Raquel Lyra, the governor of Pernambuco and a reelection candidate, appears in a video suggesting that a pregnant mother of seven undergo a tubal ligation "without her knowing." The recording was made in May 2025 in Garanhuns, in the interior of the northeastern state, and surfaced on Sunday, in the middle of her campaign. According to g1, sterilization without consent is a crime in Brazil, punishable by up to 8 years in prison.
The exchange took place at an inauguration ceremony at the Hospital Regional Dom Moura on May 21, 2025. Beside the governor are Carla Patrícia Gomes de Oliveira Albuquerque, the social assistance secretary of Jupi, a small municipality in the Agreste region; Rivanda Freire Lima, the mayor and a member of Lyra's PSD party; and Deputy Mayor Lêdson Liberato of União Brasil. G1 reported that Carla Patrícia is the mayor's daughter-in-law. The group was allied with Lyra but has endorsed her main rival, João Campos of the PSB, in this year's election. In the recording, the secretary describes a pregnant patient and the governor replies:
"Oh my God! Then she has to get a tubal ligation, you know? We can put her in line for it. That I can do. (...) But do it without her knowing."
The final line follows an inaudible remark by Carla Patrícia, according to g1's transcript. Brazilian law, statute 9.263/1996, allows sterilization only on a voluntary basis, for people over 21 or with at least two living children, and requires a minimum 60-day wait between the request and the surgery, as Folha de S.Paulo noted. It is not known whether the woman mentioned in the video underwent the procedure: g1 said it contacted Carla Patrícia and received no reply. The Jupi city government said the informal conversation "did not represent an official statement nor result in any action" and that it has no information about who the woman is.
The apology
Lyra apologized publicly on Sunday, when the video spread on social media. "As a mother, as a woman, I know how hard it is to decide about family planning. My words in no way reflect the respect I have for women. That is why I apologize. It was a mistaken remark. I have no commitment to error," she wrote.
Her campaign also issued a statement, according to g1. It concedes that the remark in Garanhuns "was unfortunate," argues that the election "should be decided by the presentation of proposals, not by the manufacturing of attacks" and calls the video "one more attempt to divert focus from what really matters, which is Pernambuco." Lyra faces João Campos in the first round of voting, scheduled for October 4.