Center and UNFPA Launch New Briefing Paper on Family Planning and Human Rights
Around the world, the unmet need for safe and effective contraceptive services is staggering: Roughly 215 million women in developing countries rely on traditional contraceptive methods with high failure rates or do not use a contraceptive method at all. In the new briefing paper, The Right to Contraceptive Information and Services for Women and Adolescents, the Center and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) demonstrate that access to family planning information and services is a fundamental human right that states are obligated to actively respect, protect, and fulfill.
The briefing paper examines the many barriers that women and young people face when trying to obtain family planning information and services—from high service costs to physical inaccessibility to discriminatory treatment by healthcare providers. It demonstrates that this lack of access has serious consequences for women’s and adolescents’ lives and health and violates a full range of human rights. Furthermore, it outlines states’ obligations under international human rights law to ensure that family planning information and services are available, accessible, acceptable, and of good quality, and illustrates how human rights principles form the basis of effective, evidence-based family planning policies and services.
The Center and UNFPA will officially launch the briefing paper on Wednesday, March 23 at UNFPA’s offices in New York.
Download the full briefing paper to learn more about family planning and human rights >,