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Significantly, the Supreme Court of the country overturned the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022.
Independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council said on Friday that 14 states have banned abortion during the year 2023, and the consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision have been replicated throughout the legal and policy system.
Human rights experts have said, “Lakhs of women and girls are at serious risk as the Supreme Court’s tough stand has destroyed nearly 50 years of protection of abortion rights in the country.”
He said that as a result of this historic decision, violations of international human rights law have taken place.
Significantly, through that decision of the Supreme Court, overturning the Roe vs Wade decision of 1973, the abortion law was returned to the state legislatures.
huge unavailability
Human rights experts have said that since the Supreme Court’s ban on abortion, abortion services have become generally unavailable to women and girls, violating their basic right to comprehensive health care. It also includes sexual and reproductive health.
They have also said that in these cases of human rights violations, women’s privacy, bodily dignity and autonomy, freedom of expression, freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, equality, freedom from discrimination, and oppression and cruel, inhuman and protection from abusive treatment and sexual violence.
disproportionate impact
UN human rights experts have said, “Women and girls in vulnerable situations have been disproportionately affected by these restrictions.”
In this context, she mentions women and girls from marginalized communities, racial and ethnic minorities, women and girls from immigrant communities, women and girls with a disability, or those on low incomes, or in abusive relationships, or those who live in rural areas. .
Human rights experts have also cautioned that the Supreme Court’s decision has left a very negative impact on doctors and health care workers as they too may face legal action for their health care decisions.
These include medically necessary abortions, or life-saving abortions, or medical procedures such as removing the remains of an incomplete abortion from a woman’s body.
death threats
Human rights experts have said, “We are particularly concerned by the growing number of reports of death threats being made across the country against those who provide abortion services.”
She said threats of criminalizing abortion in many states have discouraged women and girls from approaching health systems and seeking health care during pregnancy.
“It is particularly worrying that some clinics are reluctant to provide abortion-related services, even in states where abortion is still legal.”
In conclusion, human rights experts have urged the federal and provincial governments to act in this regard to reverse the repressive rhetoric that has spread throughout the legal system and to take positive measures to ensure access to safe and legal abortion.
UN Special Rapporteurs and other human rights experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, based in Geneva. They are appointed to monitor a specific issue or specific conditions of a country and submit reports on them. They are not UN staff, nor do they receive any salary from the UN for their work.
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