Submission to the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, its Causes and Consequences: Mistreatment of and Violence against Women and Girls with Disabilities in Reproductive Health Care, Including Facility-based Childbirth

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Submission to the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences: Mistreatment of and Violence against Women and Girls with Disabilities in Reproductive Health Care, Including Facility-Based Childbirth

By Women Enabled International
May 17, 2019

Women and girls with disabilities face significant mistreatment and violence in the provision of reproductive health care, including in facility-based childbirth. This includes forced reproductive health interventions, such as forced sterilization, abortion, and contraception, as well as physical, psychological, and verbal abuse. Furthermore, women with disabilities in some countries are at increased risk of having parental rights removed and being stripped of custody of their children, including newborns and including in childbirth facilities, which can have devastating personal consequences. There are several factors that contribute to this mistreatment and violence, including stereotypes about the sexuality of women with disabilities, their ability to parent, and their ability to make decisions for themselves, as well as a range of accessibility barriers (including physical, communications, information, and financial) and lack of provider training about their rights and lived experiences. The mistreatment and violence women with disabilities face as part of their reproductive health care, including in childbirth facilities, not only impacts their physical and emotional well-being but also deters some women with disabilities from seeking needed antenatal and postnatal care, putting their health and lives at risk.

This submission provides an overview of the causes, forms, and consequences of mistreatment of and violence against women with disabilities in reproductive health care, including childbirth facilities, with examples from several countries that illustrate these causes, forms, and consequences. The submission then provides a brief summary of human rights standards surrounding respectful reproductive health care for women with disabilities, as well as recommendations that we hope will help inform the Special Rapporteur’s forthcoming report.