Néstor Rodríguez, a Bolivian congressman from the Alianza Unidad party, submitted a proposal to the Legislative Assembly with a bureaucratic name: National Comprehensive Social Reintegration Program. Behind that neutral title was a drastic measure: forcibly sterilizing, with judicial authorization, homeless women with drug dependency problems.
On July 15, 2026, in La Paz, Rodríguez defended it bluntly: sterilization “will be carried out compulsorily” in order to reach all vulnerable women living on Bolivian streets. According to his own estimates, there are some 18,000 homeless people in the country, 4,000 of them in Santa Cruz.
The Ombudsman’s Office responded that the proposal violated basic human rights: dignity, integrity, and reproductive freedom. Those weeks of public backlash were enough for Rodríguez to begin considering replacing the word “sterilization” with permanent contraceptive methods, although the rest of the plan remains in place.
