Gender As Road Block To Access Reproductive Health Rights Of Women

Abstract

Reproductive rights comprise certain human rights that are already recognized in national laws, international human rights documents and other consensus documents. These 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. It also includes their right to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence, as expressed in human rights documents. The Declaration and Platform for Action of the subsequent 1995 UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (Beijing Platform for Action) emphasized that reproductive health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being,” and officially recognized reproductive rights as encompassing sexual rights — which include the right to be free from sexual violence and coercion, and the right to the highest standard of sexual health. Furthermore, the Beijing Platform for Action highlighted the need to promote and protect the reproductive and sexual rights of women “throughout their entire life cycle,” against women begins at the earliest stages of life and must be addressed from then onwards.” In India, women’s enjoyment of the above-defined reproductive rights is heavily undermined by gender-biased norms and practices, and by discriminatory religion-based laws that govern family matters, face a wide range of human rights abuses.