In my reading of IFPA documents, the organisation challenged the State to be accountable for women’s rights in Ireland, rather than allowing a situation to continue where those who can afford and have access to travel can acquire services.
Reproductive Health and Human Rights: Lessons from Ireland
(She/Her)
Professor
San Diego State University
Dr Tanya Bakhru holds a Ph.D. in Women’s Studies from University College Dublin, Ireland (2007). She is currently a Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies in the Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Science at San Jose State University, California.
About
Human rights discourse is an important strategy to use when advocating for sexual and reproductive rights.
In this paper I look to Ireland with a feminist curiosity and ask: what lessons can women’s health movement(s) in varying geographic and social contexts learn from the Irish case in the use of human rights discourse to promote positive change in sexual and reproductive health matters?
Key Findings
In my reading of IFPA documents, the organisation challenged the State to be accountable for women’s rights in Ireland, rather than allowing a situation to continue where those who can afford and have access to travel can acquire services.
In my reading of IFPA documents, the organisation challenged the State to be accountable for women’s rights in Ireland, rather than allowing a situation to continue where those who can afford and have access to travel can acquire services.
How to use
Use as example or evidence to substantiate an advocacy strategy.
Anyone working within the EU could use the cases presented in the research as precedent with the European Court of Human Rights.
Feminist advocates could use the research to organise against the implementation of austerity measures.
Want to read the full paper? It is available open access
Bakhru, T. (2017). “Reproductive Health and Human Rights: Lessons from Ireland.” Journal of International Women’s Studies. 18(2) pp.27-44
About this research
This research was independently conducted and did not receive funding from outside of the university.
Recommended for
UN Sustainable Development Goals
This research contributes to the following SDGs
About this research
This research was independently conducted and did not receive funding from outside of the university.
Recommended for
What it means
The research examined the Irish Family Planning Association (IRFP). While most governmental advisors at the time were calling for reductions in social services, the IFPA spoke out for the necessity of increased government support for women’s health. Specifically, they shed light on the restrictive and discriminatory treatment of women and their sexual and reproductive rights by pointing to the discrepancies in Irish law, service provision and international human rights covenants to which Ireland was a signatory.
I discuss two major findings that emerged from my examination of IFPA documents. They are:
a) the ways in which the IFPA framed the current state of sexual and reproductive health for women in Ireland in relation to international human rights conventions and treatises to which Ireland is a signatory as a response to the ambiguous and discriminatory nature of Irish law and practice regarding sexual and reproductive health;
b) the ways in which the IFPA called on the Irish state to take responsibility for the provision of health care services and protection of women’s bodily integrity in light of the intense burden which economically disadvantaged women in Ireland suffered as a part of the implementation of post-2008 recession austerity measures.
This work could be applied to NGOs working in similar political/cultural contexts, and be used as a roadmap for creating an advocacy strategy. This work could also be the starting point for a collection of cases in which human rights are used to address sexual and reproductive health discrepancies specifically.
Methodology
Using the IFPA as a case study, my work employs a content analysis of over 400 pages of documents including IFPA generated annual reports, submissions, and publications between 2008-2013 (inclusive) to investigate how, in this particular “moment,” advocacy based on notions of human rights can advance women’s sexual and reproductive health. However, it was a limited sample, and a case study approach.
Glossary
Sexual and Reproductive Rights
Having the power and resources necessary to make and carry out informed decisions about their reproductive and sexual lives (Correa & Petchesky, 1994) in a variety of global contexts. Informed by human rights discourses.
Let your research make a social impact
Anna Chadwell prepared this research following an interview with Dr Tanya Bakhru.
