Stop Violence Against Women

Reproductive Rights

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Reproductive rights - access to sexual and reproductive healthcare and autonomy in sexual and reproductive decision-making - are human rights; they are universal, indivisible, and undeniable. These rights are founded upon principles of human dignity and equality, and have been enshrined in international human rights documents. Reproductive rights embrace core human rights, including the right to health, the right to be free from discrimination, the right to privacy, the right not to be subjected to torture or ill-treatment, the right to determine the number and spacing of one's children, and the right to be free from sexual violence.

Reproductive rights include the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children, and the right to have the information and means to implement those decisions free from discrimination, coercion, and violence. Reproductive rights also include the right to the highest standards of sexual and reproductive healthcare.

International Human Rights Foundations

Reproductive rights are central to individuals' control over their lives. Reproductive rights are founded on a number of international agreements, including human rights documents:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment." "Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses." (Articles 5 and 16.2)

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: "The state parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of mental and physical health [and] the benefits of scientific progress and its applications." "The right of men and women of marriageable age to marry and to found a family shall be recognized." "No marriage shall be entered into without the free and full consent of the intending spouses." (Articles 12.1, 15.1, 23.2, and 23.3)

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: "Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person." "No one shall be subjected to unlawful interference with his [sic] privacy." "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. No one shall be subjected without his [sic] free consent to medical or scientific experimentation." "State parties shall take appropriate steps to ensure equality of rights and responsibilities of spouses as to marriage, during marriage, and at its dissolution." (Articles 9.1, 17.1, 7, and 23.4)

The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW): "State parties shall ensure access to specific educational information to help ensure the health and well-being of families, including information and advice on family planning." "State parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of health care in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, access to health care services, including those related to family planning." "State parties shall take all appropriate measures to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women." "State parties shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education, and means to enable them to exercise these rights. State parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations." "The betrothal and marriage of a child shall have no legal effect." (Articles 10h, 12.1, 5a, 16.1, and 16.2)

Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD): "State parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee to everyone the right to public health, medical care, social security, and social services." (Article 5e)

The Convention Against Torture: "The term 'torture' means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. (Article 1)

International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action: "Everyone has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. States should take all appropriate measures to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, universal access to health-care services, including those related to reproductive health care, which includes family planning and sexual health. Reproductive health-care programmes should provide the widest range of services without any form of coercion. All couples and individuals have the basic right to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children and to have the information, education, and means to do so." "Reproductive health implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and three freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so. Implicit in this last condition are the right of men and women to be informed and to have access to safe, effective, affordable, and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice, as well as other methods of their choice for regulation of fertility which are not against the law, and the right of access to appropriate health-care services that will enable women to go safely to pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples with the best chance of having a healthy infant." "Measures should be adopted and enforced to eliminate female genital mutilation." (Principle 8, Paragraphs 7.2 and 5.5)

The Beijing Platform for Action: "The human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination, and violence." "Women have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health." "Women's right to the enjoyment of the highest standard of health must be secured throughout the whole life cycle in equality with men." "The Fourth World Conference on Women reaffirms that reproductive rights rest on the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing, and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so." "Any harmful aspect of certain traditional, customary, or modern practices that violates the rights of women should be prohibited and eliminated." "Governments should enact and strictly enforce laws to ensure that marriage is only entered into with the free and full consent of the intending spouses; in addition, enact and strictly enforce laws concerning the minimum legal age of consent and the minimum age for marriage and raise the age of marriage where necessary." (Paragraphs 96, 89, 92, 223, 224, and 274e)

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: "'Crime against humanity' means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population: rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any form of sexual violence of comparable gravity." (Article 7.1)

The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action: "The World Conference on Human Rights recognizes the importance of the enjoyment by women of the highest standards of physical and mental health [and] reaffirms, on the basis of equality between women and men, a woman's right to accessible and adequate health care and the widest range of family planning services." "The World Conference on Human Rights stresses the importance of working towards the eradication of any conflicts which may arise between the rights of women and the harmful effects of certain traditional or customary practices, cultural prejudices, and religious extremism [and] urges states to repeal existing laws and regulations and remove customs which discriminate against and cause harm to the girl child." (Paragraphs 41, 38, and 49)

Amnesty International's History on Reproductive Rights

Amnesty International has a long history of working on a broad range of reproductive rights issues, including:

Forced sterilization - Forced sterilization occurs when a procedure eliminating a woman's ability to bear children is performed without her informed consent. This is a violation of the fundamental rights to bodily integrity and privacy, among others. Amnesty International recently issued a condemnation of the forced sterilization of Romani women in Slovakia. In most of these cases, doctors or nurses gave the women misleading or threatening information in order to make them agree to be sterilized. In a 2003 statement, AI recognized the right of Romani women to maintain reproductive autonomy, noting that, "the rights to have control over one's reproductive capacity and to bodily integrity are fundamental human rights that have been denied [and] the rights to informed consent to sterilization, accurate and comprehensive health information, and non-discriminatory health services have been violated."

Virginity and pregnancy testing - Forced "gynecological examinations" and "virginity testing," when a woman is examined without her consent ostensibly to determine whether her hymen is intact, violate women's human rights to bodily integrity and sexual autonomy. Even though a torn hymen is not evidence of sexual activity, the revelation that a woman's hymen is not intact may bring great shame upon her family, ruin her chances of marriage and economic security, and even lead to her murder. Furthermore, the very process of having her genitalia exposed and "examined" in such a hostile situation is extremely humiliating and traumatizing for many women. In the 1995 report, "Human Rights Are Women's Rights," AI highlighted eighteen members of a Chinese Christian community who were arrested and forced to undergo "gynecological examinations" in front of the male warden as an example of the gender-specific human rights violations that women experience in custody. Forced pregnancy testing often takes place as a condition for employment. Such discriminatory testing is invasive and unjust and constitutes a human rights violation. In 2002, AIUSA filed an amicus brief in the gender-related asylum hearing of a Chinese woman who feared the violence that would ensue when she was forcibly tested for pregnancy after being told by the government not to bear any more children.

Unequal access to medical treatment - Social and economic marginalization, repressive cultural norms, and sexual violence increase women's risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. These same factors often prevent women from receiving adequate medical treatment. Women often do not disclose their HIV/AIDS status for fear of the repercussions. As noted in AI's Stop Violence Against Women Campaign Launch report, "a woman who identifies herself as HIV-positive may open herself up to the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. The example of Gugu Dlamini, who was beaten to death by members of her community in South Africa after revealing her HIV status, is not unique. It is commonly reported that women fear that their husbands will react violently to revelations of their HIV status." Rape survivors, burdened by shame and the very real fear of ostracism, often do not request medical attention. Sex workers/prostitutes are discriminated against in all parts of society, and therefore may not seek medical treatment to avoid potential harassment. The conditions under which women contract HIV often violate their rights to bodily integrity and sexual autonomy, as it is often contracted through forced sexual contact or under conditions in which women have little power to negotiate safer sex. The use of anti-retroviral prophylaxis within 72 hours after a rape or unprotected sex can reduce the probability of infection, but when women are unable to freely disclose the experience of rape or coerced sex, it is impossible for them to receive prophylactic treatment. Furthermore, even when their HIV status is known, women are often denied the potentially life saving drugs they require. Women in prison are often denied these drugs, and some governments are unwilling to treat poor women due to the high costs involved. This unequal access to medical treatment denies women's human rights to enjoy the highest standards of health and receive accessible and adequate healthcare services.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) - Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the removal of part or all of the female genitalia. FGM is a dangerous procedure that often causes physical, sexual, and mental harm. The procedure often results in infection, shock, hemorrhaging, abscesses, benign nerve tumors, cysts, excess scar tissue, progressively enlarging scars, excruciating childbirth, sterility, and even death. Because FGM is often practiced as a group ritual involving many girls at one event using the same cutting implement, it can transmit HIV and other communicable diseases. One woman who underwent the procedure remembers that, "the pain was terrible and unbearable... I was badly cut and lost blood... I was not given any anesthetic in the operation to reduce my pain, nor any antibiotics to fight against infection. Afterwards, I hemorrhaged and became anemic... I suffered for a long time from acute vaginal infections." FGM is generally practiced as a ritual transforming a girl into a woman, often establishing her eligibility for marriage. It is sometimes believed to encourage submission in young women. In many societies, an important reason given for FGM is the belief that it reduces a woman's desire for sex. AI asserts that human rights are universal and violence against women is never acceptable, regardless of the justification offered. AI has recognized FGM as a violation of women's rights to bodily integrity, sexual autonomy, and the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health.

Forced abortion - In some areas, women are forced to terminate their pregnancies against their will. AI encouraged its members to act on two forced abortion cases in China. Mao Hengfeng was dismissed from her job and forced to have an abortion when she became pregnant in violation of China's family planning policies. In 2003, another Chinese woman applied for asylum in the United Stated after being forced to undergo two abortions on the basis that she would be forcibly sterilized and imprisoned if she returned to her country. Forced abortion violates women's right to bodily integrity denies women the fundamental right to determine the number, spacing, and timing of their children.

Forced marriage - Women are often compelled to marry against their will, facing severe consequences and even death if they refuse. AI examined this practice in its 2004 report on violence against women in Turkey. A study in several provinces in east and southeast Turkey, where women's access to education and services is more restricted than in other parts of the country, found that 45.7% of women were not consulted about their choice of marriage partner and 50.8% were married without their consent. Marriage is sometimes used as a way to avoid punishment for sexual assault, rape, and abduction. For example, a convicted rapist in northern Turkey was released from custody and his sentence of nearly seven years' imprisonment was postponed after he agreed to marry the 14-year-old girl he had raped. AI has recognized that "the forced marriage of women and girls reinforces women's unequal status in society, reduces their life choices and leaves them vulnerable to violence." The practice of forced marriage violates women's right to consent to marriage and the right to equality in marriage. Often, the woman's refusal to consent to a marriage leads to other violations of her human right to bodily integrity.

Abortion-related charges as a means of controlling women's sexuality - In some areas where termination of pregnancy is illegal, marginalized women are sometimes charged with abortion-related offenses as a means of controlling them. A February 2004 Amnesty International report on women and the death penalty in Nigeria found that women from rural, low-income backgrounds and women who have conceived outside of a functioning marriage, for example they were either unmarried, separated or divorced, were most likely to be reported for abortion-related offenses. Reports filed by third parties, including neighbors and village heads, accuse women who had miscarried or still-birthed their pregnancies of illegally obtaining an abortion. Many of these women were tricked into "confessing," denied legal aid and a fair trial, and/or sentenced to death. Amnesty International condemned these violations of civil rights and noted that international human rights documents which state that women should not be imprisoned for seeking to terminate their pregnancy.

Violence against women - Violence against women violates women's bodily integrity. A woman's right to control her body, including her sexuality and reproduction, is a basic human right. The failure to recognize this right allows for practices that cause harm to women and sometimes privilege power and tradition over individual well-being. AI reports have highlighted cases of a Zimbabwean lesbian being raped in order to "correct" her sexuality, of women being threatened with rape because they speak out in defense of human rights, and of women being beaten and raped by their husbands. The Stop Violence Against Women Campaign launch report demands that states abolish "all laws that facilitate impunity for the rape or murder of women; criminalize consensual sexual relations in private; restrict a woman's right to choose her partner and restrict women's access to reproductive health care and family planning." This report furthers AI's support of women's right to bodily integrity, which has historically included their rights to sexual autonomy, family planning, and reproductive healthcare.

When reproductive rights are denied or limited, so are women's human rights. The fundamental rights to bodily integrity, the enjoyment of the highest standard of physical and mental health, access to healthcare services, the right to determine the number, timing, and spacing of children, the right to exercise one's sexuality free from discrimination, coercion and violence and other critical human rights recognized in international law are all part of reproductive rights. When these rights are denied to women, the rights of all people everywhere are threatened. Working to protect reproductive rights emphasizes the equality and dignity of women, and the universality of human rights.

For more information on the foundations of reproductive rights in international human rights law and related standards, view the Center for Reproductive Rights' publication, "Reproductive Rights Are Human Rights."

Amnesty International USA