International human rights and women's reproductive health

Abstract

Neglect of women's reproductive health, perpetuated by law, is part of a larger, systematic discrimination against women. Laws obstruct women's access to reproductive health services. Laws protective of women's reproductive health are rarely or inadequately implemented. Moreover, few laws or policies facilitate women's reproductive health services. Epidemiological evidence and feminist legal methods provide insight into the law's neglect of women's reproductive health and expose long-held beliefs in the law's neutrality that harm women fundamentally. Empirical evidence can be used to evaluate how effectively laws are implemented and whether alternative legal approaches exist that would provide greater protection of individual rights. International human rights treaties, including those discussed in this article, are being applied increasingly to expose how laws that obstruct women's access to reproductive health services violate their basic rights.

PIP: Broad, systematic discrimination against women exists worldwide, and indifference to women's reproductive health is just part of this larger system. Laws support this neglect. They deny women access to reproductive health services. They use women's reproductive functions to control women. States implement the few laws which do exist that protect women's reproductive health either infrequently or insufficiently. Besides, there are only a few laws or policies which promote women's reproductive health services. An international human rights lawyer uses epidemiological evidence and feminist legal methods to reveal how the law neglects women's reproductive health. She also shows how long held beliefs that the law is gender-neutral actually harm women fundamentally. Lawyers can use empirical data to determine how effectively states implement laws and whether there are alternative legal approaches that would be more effective in protecting individual rights. Human rights lawyers are using various international human rights treaties, e.g., Women's Convention, to reveal how laws that deny women access to reproductive health services violate their basic rights. Women must secure reproductive self-determination to seize independence to choose their path to life's opportunities. To achieve self-determination, however, all forms of discrimination against women need to fall to the wayside. Governments must be held accountable for their acts of discrimination, their failure to eliminate discriminatory laws and practices, and the effects of their conduct on the status of women within their countries. International agencies and nongovernmental organizations can monitor the states actions. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women can develop recommendations on standards against which these groups can measure country performance.