In a question addressed through Parliament to the Minister of Labor, Solidarity, and Social Security, the Socialist Party (PS) refers to a social media post from mid-August by a former advisor to the minister and deputy director at the National Pension Center who suggested that cases of mothers breastfeeding after two years “should require intervention from the CPCJ” – Commissions for the Protection of Children and Youth.
“These statements corroborate and reinforce the notion that current holders of public office, both at the governmental level and high-ranking state officials in politically appointed positions, are out of touch with the realities of families, their needs and choices, and in truth filled with prejudices and a certain lack of humanity that assumes even shocking contours and a clear ignorance in this specific case, where it is suggested that mothers who choose to breastfeed longer as situations justify, in themselves, precautionary interventions within the scope of child protection”, it was lamented.
The PS wants to know if the ministry endorses these statements from the Social Security official who believes that breastfeeding cases after two years justify intervention by a CPCJ.
The former advisor to Minister Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho expressed that “no normal woman breastfeeds a child after the age of 2” and referred to “frauds.” This stance was shared in a comment on social media.
Notícias ao Minuto with Lusa | 20:51 – 11/08/2025
“What action has been or will be taken regarding this public stance in an area of ministry intervention and areas related to those monitored by Social Security”, it questions.
The socialists also inquire whether the National Commission for the Promotion of the Rights and Protection of Children and Youth (CNCPCJ) considers that, in any circumstance, breastfeeding practices may constitute grounds for intervention.
“Has any guidance been produced by the CNCPJ in this respect”, they further inquire.
The question mentions that in the draft of changes to labor laws proposed by the government “one of the several issues where there is clear restriction of rights and detriment to families is regarding breastfeeding issues”, which has “generated considerable public debate and reactions of concern, indignation, and repudiation”.
“The government proposes to introduce, on the one hand, the requirement for mothers to prove, upon returning to work after leave, that they are breastfeeding (when until now such proof was only needed at the end of the child’s first year of life) and, on the other hand, limits the right to breastfeeding leave to two years after birth – a limit that has not existed in Portuguese law for decades,” it points out.
This change, the PS deputies recall, was justified in an interview with the minister regarding the existence of abuses in cases of prolonged breastfeeding periods.
“Abuses that have so far not been quantified or documented, with the PS having submitted a parliamentary question for additional elements which we are waiting for”, it adds.
