Access to safe and legal abortion: Urgent call for United States at UN
01 July 2022
GENEVA (1 July 2022) – The UN women’s rights committee today said that the United States is one of the only seven countries* in the world that are not parties to the international convention that protects women’s human rights, including their right to sexual and reproductive health.
The Committee urged the United States of America to adhere to the Convention, which it signed in 1980 but has never ratified. In the light of the U.S. Supreme Court decision to strike down Roe v. Wade, the Committee expressed solidarity with women and girls in the United States. In addition, it called on all States parties to end criminalising abortion and allow legal abortion at least in cases of rape, incest, threats to life or health of the pregnant woman and girl, and severe foetal impairment. The Committee issued the following statement:
“The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) urges the United States of America to adhere to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in order to respect, protect, fulfil and promote the human rights of women and girls.
With 189 States parties, the CEDAW Convention is the only near-universal treaty that comprehensively protects women’s human rights, including their sexual and reproductive health rights. The United States of America is one of seven States worldwide that have not yet become party to the Convention.
The right to health under article 12 of the CEDAW Convention includes the right to bodily autonomy and encompasses women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive freedom. In addition, article 16 (e) protects women’s rights to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights.
GENEVA (1 July 2022) – The UN women’s rights committee today said that the United States is one of the only seven countries* in the world that are not parties to the international convention that protects women’s human rights, including their right to sexual and reproductive health.
The Committee urged the United States of America to adhere to the Convention, which it signed in 1980 but has never ratified. In the light of the U.S. Supreme Court decision to strike down Roe v. Wade, the Committee expressed solidarity with women and girls in the United States. In addition, it called on all States parties to end criminalising abortion and allow legal abortion at least in cases of rape, incest, threats to life or health of the pregnant woman and girl, and severe foetal impairment. The Committee issued the following statement:
“The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) urges the United States of America to adhere to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in order to respect, protect, fulfil and promote the human rights of women and girls.
With 189 States parties, the CEDAW Convention is the only near-universal treaty that comprehensively protects women’s human rights, including their sexual and reproductive health rights. The United States of America is one of seven States worldwide that have not yet become party to the Convention.
The right to health under article 12 of the CEDAW Convention includes the right to bodily autonomy and encompasses women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive freedom. In addition, article 16 (e) protects women’s rights to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights.
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