Reproductive & Human Rights

WS-420

Maternal Mortality

Maternal Mortality

• Maternal mortality refers to the death of a woman while pregnant or within forty-two days of termination of pregnancy from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management. (Burns 43)

• The maternal mortality ratio in developing regions is still 14 times higher than in the developed regions. (UN.org)

Maternal Mortality

• On average 536,000 women die per

year during pregnancy or child birth.

• 99% of these deaths comes from

developing countries alone.

• Almost all deaths are a result of poor

resources.

• Most of these deaths could be

prevented

Maternal Mortality

• Goal 5 of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals puts into action for a 75 percent reduction in maternal mortality between 1990 and 2015

• As of right now maternal mortality has only fallen by 45 percent (UN.ORG)

• According to the United Nations Population Fund, more than 80 percent of maternal deaths arise from five direct causes: hemorrhage, sepsis (systemic infection), unsafe abortion, obstructed labor, or toxemia (hypertensive disease brought on by pregnancy) (Burns 43)

Works Cited

Burn, Shawn Meghan. Women across Cultures: A Global Perspective. Third

ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. Print.

"United Nations Millennium Development Goals" United Nations,

<http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/maternal.shtml>.

Contraception

Contraception • Reliable and safe contraceptives are essential to women's health and are an important reproductive right(Burn 49).

• An estimated 222 million women in developing countries would like to delay or stop childbearing but are not using any method of contraception (Family Planning).

• Reproductive choice is limited due to many factors (Burn 49).

Contraception

• Women have poor quality of healthcare services or limited access.

• Lack if insurance coverage or money to pay, lack of facilities, or access due to geography.

•Cultural or religious opposition or fear of side-effects stops women from using contraception

(Burn 49)

Contraception

• Often times a women's partner determines whether and what contraception is used (Burn 49).

• Intersectionality is important when considering contraceptive methods-the method that is best for one women may not be the best for another (Burn 49).

• The Advantages and disadvantages of a method vary cross-culturally because culture influences the tolerability of side effects and because the danger of a reproductive technology depends on information and medical care availability (Burn 49).

Contraception

• Government limits reproductive choice. Governments fund sex education

and legalize certain contraceptives and ban others. They affect options by

regulating contraceptives as pharmaceuticals and through government family

planning programs with limited services adoptions that create racial and class

disparities in reproductive health (Burn 54).

• Government policies such as pronatalist polices negatively effect women's

reproductive health; pronatalist policies reduce or ban contraception and

abortion and provide benefit's based on family size (Burn 54).

Contraception

• Men often decide if a women can use contraception or not. Women's bodies are seen as property of the husband

• Men fear that contraception will lead to promiscuity. Many cultures believe that if a women could enjoy sexual relations and could prevent pregnancy, then sexual morality and family security would be jeopardized.

• Local availability of different birth control technologies may depend on international policies and economics of other countries.

• Religious groups often oppose the use of contraception.

• (Burn 54-58)

Works Cited

Burn, Shawn Meghan. Women across Cultures: A Global Perspective. Third

ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. Print.

"Family Planning." WHO. World Heath Organization, May 2013. Web. 20

Oct. 2014. <http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs351/en/>.

Abortion

Abortion

• Many women's activists believe that the availability of safe and legal abortion is an

important reproductive rights that is critical to women's health (Burn 52).

• An estimated 42 million pregnancies end in abortion (Burn 52).

• In Developed regions, nearly all abortions are safe, whereas in developing countries

more than half are unsafe (Burn 52).

• An estimated 68,000 women die each year as a result of unsafe abortion, 5 million

are hospitalized, millions suffer from other complications (Burn 52).

• Approximately 220,000 children lose their mothers from abortion-related deaths

(Burn 52).

Abortion

• Close to 40 % of countries permit induced abortion without restriction as to reason.

• 21% of countries allow abortion on economic grounds.

• 10% of countries allow for abortion due to mental health reasons

• 26% of countries prohibit it or allow it only to save the life of the mother

• Religious organizations usually strongly oppose abortion.

• In many countries a married women must have her husband's consent for an abortion.

• (Burn 52).

Women's Rights as Human Rights

Women's Rights as Human rights

• Violence against women is considered one of the first issues on the women's

rights agenda to be fluidly incorporated into human rights

• The slogan "Women's Rights are Human Rights" was first used at the UN

World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 in Vienna

• This conference brought recognition to rape, sexual slavery, and all forms of

sexual harassment and exploitation as human rights

Women's Rights as Human Rights

• Sexual rights are part of universal human rights, such as the right to privacy,

the right to security of the person, and the right to be free from torture and

from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. (Burn, 71).

• Many women lack sexual rights: rape, sexual coercion, and sex trafficking are

all a denial of a person's right to privacy, security, and right to be free from

torture and degrading treatment. (Burn, 71).

Women's Rights as Human Rights

• It was not until the 1990s that sexual rights were viewed as human rights

• In 2002, the World Health Organization created a working definition of

sexual rights that did not specifically include sexual orientation, but it did say

women had the right to "choice of sexual partner."

• Sexual rights require a commitment to negative rights such as protection

from sexuality-related harm including violence and abuse of a physical,

verbal, psychological, and sexual nature because of gender (Burn, 72).

Women's Rights as Human Rights

• In 2008 at the General Assembly of the United Nations, 66 countries from 5

continents agreed to a statement that international human rights protections

include sexual orientation and gender identity (Burns, 72).

Work Cited

• Burn, Shawn Meghan. Women Across Cultures: A Global Perspective. Third Ed.

New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. Print.

• "Women's Rights as Human Rights." United Human Rights Council, October

2010. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. <www.unitedhumanrights.org/2012/12/womens-

rights-as-human-rights>