Brazil’s Lifelike Doll Craze Goes From Malls to Legislatures

 SAO PAULO — (AP) — Videos featuring emotional moments with hyper-realistic baby dolls have sparked both online fascination and political debate in Brazil, with lawmakers even bringing the lifelike dolls into legislatures. Influencers have staged situations such as birth simulations and strolls in shopping malls with the hand-crafted baby figures, known as “reborn” dolls, creating videos that have gone viral. In Rio de Janeiro, the city council has passed a bill honoring those who make the lifelike dolls, pending Mayor Eduardo Paes’ signature. Meanwhile, legislators elsewhere across the country have debated fines for those seeking medical help for such dolls, following a video allegedly showing a woman taking one to a hospital. Lawmakers have brought the dolls into legislative chambers. On Tuesday, Joao Luiz, a state lawmaker from Amazonas, appeared with a doll at the State House to announce plans to ban reborn dolls from receiving care in the state’s public health system. However, local media reported that health authorities had never recorded any such cases.