Banning abortion in the United States is deteriorating sexual and reproductive health

In June 2022, the Supreme Court made this decision, summoning independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations in a statement.

According to the text, since the beginning of the year, abortion has been prohibited in 14 states of the country, and the consequences affect the entire legal and political system by dismantling 50 years of precedents protecting the right to abortion, but today they put it into practice. Serious danger to millions of women and girls.

The plaintiffs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, which is the largest body of independent experts in the United Nations human rights system.

In the indictment, they alleged that such restrictions make abortion services largely unavailable and deny women and girls their rights to universal healthcare, including sexual and reproductive health.

They also imply that this may lead to a violation of women’s rights to privacy, bodily integrity and autonomy, freedom of expression, thought, conscience, religion or belief, equality and non-discrimination, and the right not to be subjected to torture and inhuman and inhumane cruelty. Degrading treatment and gender violence.

The special rapporteurs said that women in disadvantaged situations are disproportionately affected by the ban, particularly those from marginalized communities, racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, people with disabilities, those living on low incomes or in abusive relationships, or in rural areas.

They pointed out that the existing exceptions in some cases, to save the life of the mother, or pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, though narrow, were practically useless.

They also warned that the Supreme Court’s decision has a chilling effect on doctors and health care staff, with legal consequences for their care decisions, including those related to medically necessary or life-saving abortions, or the removal of fetal tissue in incomplete abortions.

mem/crc