Reproductive Rights Legislation
Reproductive rights became one of the most widely discussed topics on the UN International Conference on Human Rights in 1968. That year became the starting point of the reproductive rights legislation development and led to the international recognition of many of these rights.
Due to the World health Organization, the reproductive rights are:
“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.”
The Proclamation of Teheran was the first official document in history to have recognized the reproductive rights. Depending on a certain country and region, some of the reproductive rights are binding, while the others remain non-binding recommendations these days. Some of them have a status of international laws.
In 1974 the UN General Assembly approved the Declaration on Social Progress and Development, with one of the provisions stating: “”The family as a basic unit of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members, particularly children and youth, should be assisted and protected so that it may fully assume its responsibilities within the community. Parents have the exclusive right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children.”
In 1994 the “Cairo Programme of Action” was introduced. It advised the government to take into consideration the people’s reproductive needs and not to be guided by the demographic situation in the country only.
The end of the 20th century faced a rapid upswing of interest in reproductive rights protection. Non-binding and soft laws were adopted in many countries of the world including Cairo. The reproductive rights include a vast variety of laws and protect both men’s and women’s rights.