LIMA 03.06.2026 – PRESS STATEMENT Today marks a historic turning point for justice in the Americas. For the first time, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights—the region’s highest tribunal—has held the State of Peru accountable for the forced sterilization and subsequent death of Celia Ramos. The ruling advances the protection of women’s reproductive autonomy, consolidating the principle that the right to health is inseparable from civil and political rights, and that States bear a heightened duty to guarantee free, prior, full, and informed consent — with particular rigor in surgical sterilization procedures.

Celia Ramos was a Peruvian mother of three living in poverty who sought medical care in 1997. Under a discriminatory state policy targeting poor and marginalized people, she was subjected to forced sterilization and died 19 days later. The Court confirmed that this was part of an unjust policy that violated women’s reproductive autonomy — and established that consent must result from a genuine, coercion-free process, never the product of pressure, deception, or the substitution of a woman’s will.

The judgment is a foundational pronouncement on reproductive violence — recognizing it as a form of institutional violence and gender-based discrimination. The Court found that Peru’s National Reproductive Health and Family Planning Program set coercive numerical targets directed almost exclusively at women of reproductive age, disproportionately affecting women in poverty, indigenous women, and rural women, and generating systemic violations that national oversight bodies identified and the State left unaddressed. Peru was found responsible for violations of the right to life, personal integrity, health, private life, equality before the law, and the prohibition of violence against women.

Statement by Enid Muthoni, Chief Program Officer of the Center for Reproductive Rights

“This ruling represents long overdue justice for the thousands of women who, like Celia, suffered the devastating consequences of state overreach. It sends a clear message to every corner of the world: a woman’s right to control her own body and destiny is a fundamental human right that must be guaranteed everywhere. There is no justice without truth, and there is no truth if states do not protect reproductive freedom as the very foundation of a free and equal society. This decision matters beyond Peru’s borders. In every country where women’s reproductive rights are contested, restricted, or dismantled, this ruling stands as a reminder that states are accountable — and that the fight for reproductive freedom is one we cannot afford to lose”.

Statement by Catalina Martínez Coral, Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Center for Reproductive Rights

“Forced sterilization is one of the gravest violations a State can commit, because it happens inside a woman’s body, without her permission, stripping her of something essential: the right to decide over her own life and future. The Inter-American Court has recognized this in Celia’s case: consent is not a formality — it is the foundation of any medical intervention and the cornerstone of reproductive autonomy. It is, ultimately, the line that separates dignity from violence.”

Learn more about Celia’s story

The co-litigating organizations with the Center for Reproductive Rights in this case are DEMUS – Study for the Defense of Women’s Rights and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL).

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