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Recorded presentation

Marianne Møllmann, LLM, Women's Rights Division, Human Rights Watch, 350 Fifth Ave. 34th Floor, New York, NY 11215, 212 216 1285, marianne.mollmann@hrw.org

In all parts of the world, women suffer discrimination and abuse because of their reproductive capacity. Community members, spouses, parents, and sometimes even health professionals use discrimination, violence, and abuse as means to limit women's sexual autonomy and reproductive choices. In some countries, some of these abuses are mandated by law. They violate internationally recognized human rights, including women's rights to life, health, nondiscrimination, bodily integrity, privacy, liberty, religious freedom, and freedom from torture.

In Latin America, reproductive rights have been attacked from a number of sides for decades. On the one hand, conservative groups—sometimes with reference to religious teachings—attack the use of modern contraceptives to control fertility and space out births as “unnatural” or “immoral.” At the same time, seemingly progressive policies directed at curbing population growth at times violate women's rights because they are designed from an aggregate population perspective and not to facilitate women's independent decision-making with regard to their bodies.

In this context, women's and public health groups employ a combination of legislative, judicial, and grassroots strategies to further the notion that reproductive rights are human rights and reside with individual women. This presentation will analyze the advantages and disadvantages of some of these strategies. The presentation will draw most heavily on Human Rights Watch's research and experience in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, and will place special emphasis on strategies employed to expand access to contraceptives and safe abortions.

Learning Objectives:

• This presentation is part of a panel, chaired by Jennifer Hirsch (abstract #132234), aimed at presenting audience member with specific suggestions for the ways in which they can integrate human rights into their own work in public health advocacy, programs, and research.

Keywords: Abortion, Latin American

Related Web page: hrw.org/backgrounder/wrd/wrd0106/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation