WUNRN
Link to Full 20-Page Interim Report
of SR Health to UN General Assembly:
"Realization
of the right to health requires the removal of barriers that interfere with
individual decision-making on health-related issues and with access to health
services, education and information, in particular on health conditions that
only affect women and girls."
A/66/254
Interim report of the Special Rapporteur
on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of
physical and mental health
Summary
In the present report, the Special Rapporteur
on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of
physical and mental health considers the interaction between criminal laws and
other legal restrictions relating to sexual and reproductive health and the
right to health. The right to sexual and reproductive health is a fundamental
part of the right to health. States must therefore ensure that this aspect of
the right to health is fully realized.
The Special Rapporteur considers the impact
of criminal and other legal restrictions on abortion; conduct during pregnancy;
contraception and family planning; and the provision of sexual and reproductive
education and information. Some criminal and other legal restrictions in each
of those areas, which are often discriminatory in nature, violate the right to
health by restricting access to quality goods, services and information. They
infringe human dignity by restricting the freedoms to which individuals are
entitled under the right to health, particularly in respect of decision-making
and bodily integrity. Moreover, the application of such laws as a means to
achieving certain public health outcomes is often ineffective and
disproportionate.
Realization of the right to health requires
the removal of barriers that interfere with individual decision-making on
health-related issues and with access to health services, education and
information, in particular on health conditions that only affect women and
girls. In cases where a barrier is created by a criminal law or other legal
restriction, it is the obligation of the State to remove it. The removal of
such laws and legal restrictions is not subject to resource constraints and can
thus not be seen as requiring only progressive realization. Barriers arising
from criminal laws and other laws and policies affecting sexual and
reproductive health must therefore be immediately removed in order to ensure
full enjoyment of the right to health.
_____________________________________________________________________
V. Recommendations
65. In applying a right-to-health
approach, States should undertake reforms
toward the development and implementation
of policies and programmes
relating to sexual and reproductive health
as required by international human
rights law. In that context, the Special
Rapporteur calls upon States to:
(a) Formulate public health policies and
programmes that disseminate
evidence-based information regarding
sexual and reproductive health, as well
as the prevention of perinatal HIV
transmission;
(b) Develop comprehensive family planning
policies and programmes,
which provide a wide range of goods,
services and information relating to
contraception and are available,
accessible and of good quality;
(c) Decriminalize the supply and use of
all forms of contraception and
voluntary sterilization for fertility
control and remove requirements for spousal
and/or parental consent;
(d) Take steps to ensure the availability,
accessibility and quality of a full
range of contraceptive methods, including
both pharmaceutical and surgical
contraceptive methods;
(e) Decriminalize the provision of
information relating to sexual and
reproductive health, including
evidence-based sexual and reproductive health
education;
(f) Formulate policies to ensure that
existing criminal laws, such as
those concerning pornography, are not
applied to restrict access to, or punish
those who provide, evidence-based sexual
and reproductive health information
and education;
(g) Take steps to standardize
national curricula to ensure that sexual
and reproductive education is
comprehensive, evidence-based, and includes
information regarding human rights,
gender and sexuality;
(h) Decriminalize abortion, including
related laws, such as those
concerning abetment of abortion;
(i) Consider, as an interim measure,
the formulation of policies and
protocols by responsible authorities
imposing a moratorium on the application
of criminal laws concerning abortion,
including legal duties on medical
professionals to report women to law
enforcement authorities;
(j) Ensure safe, good quality health
services, including abortion, using
services, in line with WHO protocols;
(k) Establish policies and programmes to
ensure the accessibility and
availability of safe, reliable and good
quality services for abortion-related
complications and post-abortion care, in
line with WHO protocols, particularly
in jurisdictions where abortion is
criminalized;
(l) Ensure that accurate, evidence-based
information concerning
abortion and its legal availability is
publicly available and that health-care
providers are fully aware of the law
related to abortion and its exceptions;
(m) Ensure that conscientious objection
exemptions are well-defined in
scope and well-regulated in use and that
referrals and alternative services are
available in cases where the objection is
raised by a service provider;
(n) Suspend/abolish the application of
existing criminal laws to various
forms of conduct during pregnancy, such as
conduct related to treatment of the
foetus, most notably miscarriage, alcohol
and drug consumption and HIV
transmission.