GNPHR STATEMENT ON REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
November, 2022
Approved by the Steering Committee of the Global Network of Psychologists for Human Rights (GNPHR)
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees to all people the rights to health, to self-determination, bodily integrity. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women affirms this by explicitly recognizing women’s reproductive rights.
The willful denial of a woman’s right to determine the fate of her own body explicitly removes these human rights.
There is a plethora of psychological research calling attention to the close connections among reproductive rights, mental health, and wellbeing (see for example Chrisler and Sagrestano “Reproductive Rights, Psychology and Human Rights” https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-handbook-of-psychology-and-human-rights/reproductive-justice-psychology-and-human-rights/775C4735A73C9FBFF669D42870583DBD or The State of Reproductive Health: Mental Health, Inequity, and Access https://www.apa.org/pi/women/reproductive-health-rights).
Therefore, the Global Network of Psychologists for Human Rights
- Supports statements made by the United Nations and its associated bodies in support of reproductive rights (e.g., Statement by UN Secretary-General: https://www.reuters.com/world/reproductive-rights-foundation-empowerment-women-girls-says-un-2022-05-03/; UN Human Rights Commission: https://www.ohchr.org/en/node/3447/sexual-and-reproductive-health-and-rights ;
- Supports statements made by the United Nations Office of Human Rights in support of access to safe abortion (https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/SexualHealth/INFO_Abortion_WEB.pdf)“Human rights bodies have provided clear guidance on the need to decriminalize abortion. Ensuring access to these services in accordance with human rights standards is part of State obligations to eliminate discrimination against women and to ensure women’s right to health as well as other fundamental human rights.”
- Supports statements made by Human Rights Watch in their analysis “Access to Abortion is a Human Right” (https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/24/access-abortion-human-right)
- Supports statements made by Amnesty International concerning the violation of human rights when abortion is criminalized (https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/human-rights-standards.pdf) “Criminalizing Abortion Violates Human Rights … Respect for the autonomous decision-making of women, girls and all those who can become pregnant in laws and policies that affect their lives is a key indicator of the degree of gender equality achieved. Laws that do not place pregnant people at the center and do not respect their autonomous decision making and human rights cause harm to all women, girls and others who can become pregnant, and in particular to people who are marginalized and/or otherwise face intersecting forms of discrimination.”
- Supports the UN Women Statement: Reproductive rights are women’s rights and human rights (24 JUNE 2022) “Reproductive rights are integral to women’s rights, a fact that is upheld by international agreements and reflected in law in different parts of the world. To be able to exercise their human rights and make essential decisions, women need to be able to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to information, education, and services….”
- Supports statements from faith-based groups supporting reproductive rights as human rights and religious freedom, such as the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (https://rcrc.org/mission-statement/) or the Moslems for Reproductive Rights: https://www.mpvusa.org/reproductive-justice
- Supports the claim that denying women the right to choose to have safe and accessible abortion can result in cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment that is prohibited by international law (https://www.corteidh.or.cr/tablas/r33546.pdf)
- Supports the 2014 Declaration on sexual rights: https://worldsexualhealth.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Declaration-of-Sexual-Rights-2014-plain-text.pdf article 12 “The right to decide whether to have children, the number and spacing of children, and to have the information and the means to do so”.