This article is a human rights report. The human rights violations reported here document a deprivation of human rights on a massive scale. What is documented involves a fundamental assault on the personhood, the physical integrity and emotional well-being of people from very different classes, cultures, and communities around the world. It reveals a range of ways in which people become the instruments or tools of state policies that deprive them of the knowledge and information necessary to make and implement decisions about their reproduction and to express their sexuality safely. It thus involves state control over some of the most basic elements of what it means to be human.
Countries surveyed include the United States, Algeria, and Chile.
The country reports presented in this chapter talk not so much about individual cases of death or disease as about public health at a more general level, using the conventional language of demography and epidemiology. It concludes that although there are problems with the concept of a right to health, a concept that is contested by many countries, particularly where privatized health care systems exist, the concept of women's reproductive health requires that attention be paid to the broader meaning of health. As well, mainstream human rights law must begin to engage more comprehensively and less repressively with debate around the meaning of sexuality. Although every effort is made to link to reliable sources, we do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of any information provided.