(SDGs) such as to eradicate poverty, take urgent action on climate
change, and promote health and gender equality for global cooperation
over the next 15 years. The SDGs take a multi-sectoral approach to
development. Access to safe abortion care can be linked to several 2030
targets within the SDGs such as universal sexual and reproductive rights
and gender equality and the SDGs around poverty, education, inequality,
economic growth and justice.
However, in a joint statement issued last week,
UN and regional human rights experts expressed deep regret that the
SDGs do not go far enough. These experts—rapporteurs on specific human
rights issues of the UN Human Rights Council, the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and
Peoples’ Rights—joined together for the first time in making the
statement. They stated that criminalization of abortion is
discriminatory and called on governments to “remove punitive measures
for women who undergo abortion, and at the very minimum, legalize
abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape, incest, and where the
continued pregnancy endangers the mental and physical health of the
woman or the life of the woman.”
The experts emphasize that sexual and reproductive health and rights are based on universally accepted human rights standards, as codified in international and regional treaties, as well as in international political consensus documents. “The SDGs are just a starting point,” says Patty Skuster, Senior Policy Advisor at Ipas. “The experts’ statement reinforces that access to safe abortion is an established human right and an international development priority.”
For more information, contact media@ipas.org
