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Sexual and reproductive health and rights have increasingly been recognized in the international arena, but their evolution and the definition of their scope and content have not been received without controversy. From population control to human rights, from demographers&rsquo ; competence to governmental prerogative, from couples&rsquo ; rights to universal rights, this article will present an overview of the evolution of sexual and reproductive rights in the international arena. The development of these rights cannot be read in isolation but must be analyzed together with the broader landscape that hosts social and political movements, ideologies, religions, and revolutions. Understanding sexual and reproductive health and rights as historical creations, rather than timeless givens, enables us to devise historically informed instruments and policies that are more likely to succeed. This article contributes to the scholarly literature by providing an overview of past trends and of the conditions under which they occurred. Retracing the history of these rights enables us to clarify the scope of the state&rsquo ; s obligations to realize the right to sexual and reproductive health, to improve monitoring opportunities, and to ensure accountability for violations. This article explores these (and forthcoming) developments contributing to identify the existing obligations, the relevant actors, and the challenges that lie ahead.

Esta investigación se enfoca en determinar si el Estado colombiano debía garantizar por medio del sistema general de salud y a través de una política pública integral, al acceso real y efectivo a los derechos reproductivos a efectos de disminuir el número de casos de infertilidad en Colombia y de satisfacer el derecho a la autodeterminación reproductiva mediante la procreación humana asistida de hijos con claro lazo filial. Para tal fin, examine las obligaciones internaciones adquiridas por Colombia, que hacen parte del bloque de constitucionalidad, respecto a reconocer y garantizar los derechos sexuales y reproductivos de las mujeres y de los hombres como verdaderos derechos humanos. En tal sentido, centra su atención en los derechos reproductivos, con miras a señalar que su núcleo esencial se encuentra integrado por el acceso a los servicios de salud reproductiva y el ejercicio de la autodeterminación reproductiva, lo cual permite que los individuos y parejas decidan libremente si escogen procrear o no, el número de hijos, sus intervalos y con quién los tendrán, y acceder a la información, a la educación y a los medios de reproducción que le permitan ejercer ese derecho. De allí que el Estado colombiano deba garantizar los derechos reproductivos de aquellas personas que padecen problemas de infertilidad y que desean satisfacer la procreación acudiendo a las técnicas de reproducción humana asistida, cuando la reproducción biológica no sea posible. Adicionalmente, se logra identificar varias de las barreras que impiden el reconocimiento y garantía de la salud reproductiva y la reproducción asistida en Colombia, siendo las más relevantes aquellas propias del campo legislativo, gubernamental, religioso y social. También se considera la jurisprudencia de la Corte Constitucional Colombiana sobre los derechos reproductivos y los tratamientos tendientes a superar la infertilidad, la cual ha sido determinada por la OMS como una enfermedad crónica que, incluso la CorteIDH ha estimado que produce una condición de ...

Discusses status, in light of five-year reviews of the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994), and the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995); conceptual development and implementation of action plans; 12 articles.

Sexual and reproductive health and rights have increasingly been recognized in the international arena, but their evolution and the definition of their scope and content have not been received without controversy. From population control to human rights, from demographers' competence to governmental prerogative, from couples' rights to universal rights, this article will present an overview of the evolution of sexual and reproductive rights in the international arena. The development of these rights cannot be read in isolation but must be analyzed together with the broader landscape that hosts social and political movements, ideologies, religions, and revolutions. Understanding sexual and reproductive health and rights as historical creations, rather than timeless givens, enables us to devise historically informed instruments and policies that are more likely to succeed. This article contributes to the scholarly literature by providing an overview of past trends and of the conditions under which they occurred. Retracing the history of these rights enables us to clarify the scope of the state's obligations to realize the right to sexual and reproductive health, to improve monitoring opportunities, and to ensure accountability for violations. This article explores these (and forthcoming) developments contributing to identify the existing obligations, the relevant actors, and the challenges that lie ahead.

AbstractThe introduction of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in 2012 in the US ushered in new technology for preventing HIV in people who are seen as at risk of contracting HIV. However, the rollout of PrEP has been filled with various debates and controversies ranging from concerns about effectiveness, adherence levels, cost-effectiveness, and moral responsibility for HIV prevention. In this context, some commentators have noted the uncanny similarities between this debate on PrEP and the debates that surrounded the launch of the oral contraceptive pill (the Pill) some 50 years ago. In this article, we provide the first to our knowledge analysis that compares how debates surrounding the launch of the Pill and debates which emerged concerning the launch of PrEP. Our analytical setting is the launch of the Pill in Norway in the 1960s and the launch of PrEP in 2016. Moreover, we wanted to focus on how both pharmaceuticals were framed in news media in Norway. We argue that such an analysis can tell us something about how the pharmaceuticalization of sex and sexuality often becomes dominated by discourses of morality and pivots around various issues of responsibility, in particular when it comes to female and gay sexualities.

The idea of this paper is to draw some insight on the appropriation of sexual and reproductive rights of women when in Argentina its regulatory acknowledgment is being widened and deepened. Theobjective is to describe how these rights are put forth in the law and women's opinion regarding gender, sexual and reproductive rights, in general, and abortion, in particular, and regarding sexual identities. We worked with existing legislation and the results of a qualitative study carried out with focus groups of women over 18 and residing in the City of Buenos Aires.3The findings show a gap between the legal discourse and the opinion of women, which also differs according to age and socioeconomic status. Women do not speak about a conception of rights, nor from a gender-oriented perspective, and the subjective appropriation of rights varies according to the analyzed issues. ; En este artículo reflexionamos sobre la apropiación de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos por parte de las mujeres, cuando en la Argentina se desarrolla una ampliación y profundización en elreconocimiento normativo de los mismos. El objetivo es describir la enunciación de los derechos manifiesta en las leyes y las opiniones de las mujeres sobre el género, los derechos sexuales yreproductivos en general, y el aborto, en particular, y las identidades sexuales. Se trabajó con leyes y con los resultados de un estudio cualitativo mediante grupos focales con mujeres mayores de 18años, residentes en la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires.2 Los hallazgos muestran una brecha entre el discurso en el plano legal y las opiniones de las mujeres, que además difieren según la edad y elnivel socioeconómico. Las mujeres no hablan de una concepción de derechos, ni desde una perspectiva de género, y la apropiación subjetiva de los derechos varía de acuerdo a los temas analizados.

The years between 2008-2013 were a period of economic austerity and ideological turmoil in Ireland. Alongside the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar, a woman who died in 2012 due to complications resulting from her refused request for an abortion in an Irish hospital, economic, political and ideological forces converged to promote a tipping point in the demand for full sexual and reproductive rights for women in Ireland. Within this temporal moment, a "convergence of various economic, political and ideological forces that make possible the emergence of specific kinds of practices" (Barndt, 2008, p. 36), the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) responded with a call to action based on human rights discourse. Theirs was a unique and compelling approach for social change. While most governmental advisors at the time were calling for reductions in social services, the IFPA spoke out for the necessity of increased government support for women's health. Specifically, they shed light on the restrictive and discriminatory treatment of women and their sexual and reproductive rights by pointing to the discrepancies in Irish law, service provision and international human rights covenants to which Ireland was a signatory. This paper examines the ways in which the Irish Family Planning Association responded to the tumultuous times and advanced women's reproductive freedom based on the principles of the universality of human rights. Using the IFPA as a case study, my work employs a content analysis of over 400 pages of documents including IFPA generated annual reports, submissions and publications between 2008-2013 (inclusive) to investigate how, in this particular "moment," advocacy based on notions of human rights can advance women's sexual and reproductive health. In this paper, I will discuss two major findings that emerged from my examination of IFPA documents. They are: a) the ways in which the IFPA framed the current state of sexual and reproductive health for women in Ireland in relation to international human rights conventions and treatises to which Ireland is a signatory as a response to the ambiguous and discriminatory nature of Irish law and practice regarding sexual and reproductive health; and b) the ways in which the IFPA called on the Irish state to take responsibility for the provision of health care services and protection of women's bodily integrity in light of the intense burden which economically disadvantaged women in Ireland suffered as a part of the implementation of post-2008 recession austerity measures.

Costa Rica's reputation as a stable democracy and champion of inter-American human rights law makes it both beacon and bellwether for sexual and reproductive rights in the American continent. The Costa Rican government brought cases involving in vitro fertilization and same-sex marriage to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which issued historic decisions expanding reproductive and sexual rights across Latin America. In response, a transnational coalition of self-proclaimed prolife and pro-family organizations has targeted the Organization of American States and its system of inter-American human rights law, calling on the OAS to respect national sovereignty concerning life and family matters. This chapter traces Costa Rica's key role in Latin American sexual and reproductive rights lawfare as well as the resulting backlash. ; A reputação da Costa Rica como uma democracia estável e defensora da atuação da Corte Interamericana de Direitos Humanos torna o país uma referência no tema dos direitos sexuais e reprodutivos no continente americano. O governo da Costa Rica levou casos que envolviam fertilização in vitro e casamento de pessoas do mesmo sexo para discussão na Corte Interamericana de Direitos Humanos, a qual emitiu decisões históricas, ampliando os direitos reprodutivos e sexuais para toda a América Latina. Em resposta, uma organização autoproclamada pró-vida e pró-família colocou a Organização dos Estados Americanos (OEA) e o seu sistema interamericano de direitos humanos como alvo de ataque, pedindo que a OEA respeite a soberania nacional em matérias sobre família e vida. Este artigo apresenta o papel da Costa Rica na disputa dos direitos sexuais e reprodutivos por meio do lawfare na América Latina e seus resultados reativos.

El presente artículo ubica el concepto de derechos sexuales en el ámbito de las ciencias políticas, y muestra el papel que diversos actores y procesos sociales han tenido en la evolución del concepto, que aún lucha por ganar legitimidad social. Se evidencia cómo los derechos sexuales pertenecen al terreno de la ética, el derecho y el ejercicio de la ciudadanía, en contraste con la perspectiva de las religiones ortodoxas que no consideran que la sexualidad sea terreno del derecho sino de la naturalidad. Frente a dicha perspectiva se enfatiza el papel de los movimientos sociales y de las conferencias de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para facilitar la construcción de discursos. Finalmente el artículo ofrece una evaluación de la apropiación de los derechos sexuales por mujeres en el México contemporáneo. AbstractThe article places the concept of sexual rights within the sphere of the social sciences. It shows the role of various actors and social processes in the evolution of a concept that it is still struggling to gain social legitimacy. It shows how sexual rights belong to the sphere of ethics, law and the exercise of citizenship as opposed to the view of orthodox religions, which consider that sexuality belongs to the sphere of nature rather than law. The author contrasts the religious position with the role of social movements and the United Nations Conference in facilitating the construction of discourse. Finally, the article ends by offering an evaluation of the appropriation of sexual rights by women in contemporary Mexico.

The choice of women for reproduction and their free expression of sexuality in India are not separate from religious or cultural beliefs. The ancient legal text, The Manusmriti and its law codes had a significant role in creating the Brahmanic Patriarchy, the caste system, and the heteronormative structures of Ancient India. Under the British, the text became instrumental in constructing a complex system of jurisprudence in which 'general law' was supplemented by 'personal law' determined by one's religious affiliation. The present study using the qualitative research method, analyses the sexual politics of The Manusmriti from women's Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRH Rights) perspective. Instead of the original Sanskrit text, the English translation of The Manusmriti by Wendy Doniger and Brian. K. Smith was taken for the textual analysis and attempted an interpretive analysis of the specific verses coming under the selected six categories. Several of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of women related to the right to bodily integrity, marriage rights, right to contraception, right to divorce, etc., are denied as per the injunctions prescribed in the text. Women are portrayed as sexually promiscuous, secret, sly, and out to capture men. Their bodies are frequently objectified and more often devalued as eliciting disgust. The authors connect the implications of the findings with the present status of women's sexual and reproductive rights in Indian society and highlight the need for re-reading the religious and cultural texts with a human rights /gender perspective.