Editing Reproductive rights (section)

{{Short description|Legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2023}}
{{Rights|Groups}}
'''Reproductive rights''' are [[legal right]]s and freedoms relating to [[human reproduction|reproduction]] and [[reproductive health]] that vary amongst countries around the world.<ref name="COOK">{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/2950752 |jstor=2950752 |title=Advancing Reproductive Rights Beyond Cairo and Beijing |journal=International Family Planning Perspectives |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=115–21 |year=1996 |last1=Cook |first1=Rebecca J. |last2=Fathalla |first2=Mahmoud F. }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Parker |first1=Willie J. |title=The moral imperative of reproductive rights, health, and justice |journal=Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaecology |date=2020 |volume=62 |pages=3–10 |doi=10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2019.07.006|pmid=31540808 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Adami |first1=Valentina |title=Women's Reproductive Rights: A literary perspective |journal=Pólemos |date=2012 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=101–123 |doi=10.1515/pol-2012-0007}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tan |first1=Jolene |title=Beyond fertility figures: towards reproductive rights and choices |journal=[[Humanities and Social Sciences Communications]] |date=2024 |volume=11 |pages=112 |doi=10.1057/s41599-024-02608-2 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The [[World Health Organization]] defines reproductive rights:<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web |url=http://who.int/reproductive-health/gender/index.html |title=Gender and reproductive rights |website=[[World Health Organization|WHO]] |access-date=2010-08-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090726150133/http://www.who.int//reproductive-health/gender/index.html |archive-date=2009-07-26 }}</ref>
<blockquote>
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, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. They also include the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence.</blockquote>

Reproductive rights may include some or all of: [[right to abortion]]; [[birth control]]; freedom from [[compulsory sterilization|coerced sterilization]] and contraception; the right to reproduce and start a family,<ref name="e070">{{cite web | title=International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 10 | website=OHCHR | date=3 January 1976 | url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-economic-social-and-cultural-rights}}</ref> the right to access good-quality [[reproductive health]]care; and the right to [[family planning]] in order to make free and informed reproductive choices.<ref name="AMNESTY"/> Reproductive rights may also include the right to receive [[sex education|education]] about [[Sexually transmitted disease|sexually transmitted infections]] and other aspects of sexuality, right to [[menstrual health]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/Life-stages/sexual-and-reproductive-health/news/news/2018/11/tackling-the-taboo-of-menstrual-hygiene-in-the-european-region|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728123705/http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/Life-stages/sexual-and-reproductive-health/news/news/2018/11/tackling-the-taboo-of-menstrual-hygiene-in-the-european-region|archive-date=28 July 2019|url-status=live|title=Tackling the taboo of menstrual hygiene in the European Region|website=[[World Health Organization|WHO]]|date=8 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Singh|first1=Susheela|title=Inclusion of menstrual health in sexual and reproductive health and rights — Authors' reply|journal=The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health|volume=2|issue=8|pages=e19|year=2018|doi=10.1016/S2352-4642(18)30219-0|pmid=30119725|s2cid=52031096|url=https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(18)30219-0/fulltext|url-access=registration}}</ref> and protection from practices such as [[female genital mutilation]] (FGM).<ref name="COOK"/><ref name="AMNESTY"/><ref name="FREEDMAN"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/fourth/zavales4.html|author=Anastasios Zavales|title={{title case|GENITAL MUTILATION & THE UNITED NATIONS: MALE AND FEMALE CIRCUMCISION, HUMAN RIGHTS, & THE RESTORATION OF SPIRITUAL INTEGRITY & FREEDOM}}|website=Nocirc.org|access-date=19 August 2017}}</ref> Protections from mistreatment during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum are also part of the reproductive rights framework, which calls into questions practices like [[Use of restraints on pregnant women|shackling pregnant people]] in correctional facilities.<ref name="Sichel">{{cite journal |last1=Sichel |first1=D.L. |date=2008 |title=Giving Birth in Shackles: A Constitutional and Human Rights Violation |url=http://www.wcl.american.edu/journal/genderlaw/16/2sichel.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=223–255 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724214517/https://www.wcl.american.edu/journal/genderlaw/16/2sichel.pdf |archive-date=2014-07-24 |access-date=2014-10-20}}</ref>

Reproductive rights began to develop as a subset of [[human rights]] at the United Nation's 1968 International Conference on Human Rights.<ref name="FREEDMAN" /> The resulting [[Non-binding resolution|non-binding]] Proclamation of Tehran was the first international document to recognize one of these rights when it stated that: "Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children."<ref name="FREEDMAN">{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/2939211 |pmid=8475521 |jstor=2939211 |title=Human Rights and Reproductive Choice |journal=Studies in Family Planning |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=18–30 |year=1993 |last1=Freedman |first1=Lynn P. |last2=Isaacs |first2=Stephen L. }}</ref><ref name=teheran_proc>{{cite web |title=Proclamation of Teheran|publisher=International Conference on Human Rights|year= 1968|url=http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/b_tehern.htm|access-date=8 November 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071017025912/http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/b_tehern.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 17 October 2007}}</ref> Women's sexual, gynecological, and mental health issues were not a priority of the United Nations until its Decade of Women (1975–1985) brought them to the fore.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Cutting the rose : female genital mutilation : the practice and its prevention|last=Dorkenoo, Efua.|date=1995|publisher=Minority Rights Publications|isbn=1873194609|oclc=905780971}}</ref> States, though, have been slow in incorporating these rights in [[treaty|internationally legally binding instruments]]. Thus, while some of these rights have been recognized in [[soft law|hard law]], that is, in legally binding [[international human rights instruments]], others have been mentioned only in non binding recommendations and, therefore, have at best the status of [[soft law]] in [[international law]], while a further group is yet to be accepted by the international community and remains at the level of [[advocacy]].<ref>Center for Reproductive Rights, International Legal Program, [http://thomas.loc.gov Establishing International Reproductive Rights Norms: Theory for Change] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150830093514/http://thomas.loc.gov/ |date=30 August 2015 }}, US CONG. REC. 108th CONG. 1 Sess. E2534 E2547 (Rep. Smith) (8 December 2003):<blockquote>
We have been leaders in bringing arguments for a woman's right to choose abortion within the rubric of international human rights. However, there is no binding hard norm that recognizes women's right to terminate a pregnancy. (...) While there are hard norms prohibiting sex discrimination that apply to girl adolescents, these are problematic since they must be applied to a substantive right (i.e., the right to health) and the substantive reproductive rights of adolescents are not `hard' (yet!). There are no hard norms on age discrimination that would protect adolescents' ability to exercise their rights to reproductive health, sexual education, or reproductive decisionmaking. In addition, there are no hard norms prohibiting discrimination based on marital status, which is often an issue with respect to unmarried adolescents' access to reproductive health services and information. The soft norms support the idea that the hard norms apply to adolescents under 18. They also fill in the substantive gaps in the hard norms with respect to reproductive health services and information as well as adolescents' reproductive autonomy. (...) There are no hard norms in international human rights law that directly address HIV/AIDS directly. At the same time, a number of human rights bodies have developed soft norms to secure rights that are rendered vulnerable by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. (...) Practices with implications for women's reproductive rights in relation to HIV/AIDS are still not fully covered under existing international law, although soft norms have addressed them to some extent. (...) There is a lack of explicit prohibition of mandatory testing of HIV-positive pregnant women under international law. (...) None of the global human rights treaties explicitly prohibit child marriage and no treaty prescribes an appropriate minimum age for marriage. The onus of specifying a minimum age at marriage rests with the states' parties to these treaties. (...) We have to rely extensively on soft norms that have evolved from the TMBs and that are contained in conference documents to assert that child marriage is a violation of fundamental human rights.</blockquote></ref>

Issues related to reproductive rights are some of the most vigorously contested rights' issues worldwide, regardless of the population's [[socioeconomic]] level, [[religion]] or [[culture]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Reproductive Rights in a Global Context |last= Knudsen |first=Lara |year=2006 |publisher= Vanderbilt University Press |isbn=978-0-8265-1528-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/reproductiverigh0000knud/page/1 1] |url=https://archive.org/details/reproductiverigh0000knud |url-access=registration |quote=reproductive rights. }}</ref>

The issue of reproductive rights is frequently presented as vitally important in discussions and articles by [[List of population concern organizations|population concern organizations]] such as [[Population Matters]].<ref name=popsearch>{{cite web|title=Population Matters search on "reproductive rights"|url=http://populationmatters.org/search_results.php?q=%22reproductive+rights%22|website=Populationmatters.org/|access-date=19 August 2017}}{{dead link|date=May 2020|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

Reproductive rights are a subset of [[sexual and reproductive health and rights]].