Iran death penalty threat for abortion unlawful: UN rights experts

In a statement released connected Tuesday, the experts called connected the Iranian authorities to repeal the ‘Youthful Population and Protection of the Family’ law, which was ratified by Iran’s Guardian Council connected the archetypal of November.

The law, said the experts, severely restricts entree to abortion, contraception, voluntary sterilization services and related information, successful nonstop usurpation of women’s quality rights nether planetary law, and contains a proviso stating that if carried retired connected a ample scale, termination would autumn nether the transgression of “corruption connected earth” and transportation the decease penalty.

“The Iranian Government is taking further steps to usage transgression instrumentality to restrict the rights of women, for the involvement of expanding the fig of births, which volition efficaciously unit galore women and girls to proceed unwanted pregnancies to word which would beryllium inherently discriminatory”, the experts declared.

Severe restrictions connected women’s rights

Abortion successful Iran is efficaciously banned, isolated from a fewer exceptions. The caller instrumentality puts the last decisions connected therapeutic termination – successful lawsuit of menace to the beingness of the large pistillate oregon foetal anomalies – successful the hands of a sheet consisting of a judge, aesculapian doc and forensic doctor, alternatively than connected the large women, supported by the aesculapian doctor.

For the UN experts, the instrumentality violates the rights to beingness and health, the close to non-discrimination and equality, and to state of look by making it amerciable to entree a scope of reproductive wellness services and stock reproductive rights information.

The instrumentality besides prohibits escaped organisation of contraceptive goods, and imposes a prohibition connected voluntary sterilizations for men and women, speech from precise exceptional cases. The move, said the experts, volition disproportionately interaction women successful situations of marginalization, and victims of intersexual violence.

Risk of maternal deaths

In the experts’ view, the instrumentality volition not halt abortions.

They pointed to information illustrating that “criminalizing the termination of gestation does not trim the fig of women who edifice to abortion”.

“Instead, it forces women to hazard their lives by undergoing clandestine and unsafe procedures.”

According to authoritative information an estimated 300,000 to 600,000 amerciable abortions are performed successful Iran each year.

Under the law, antenatal screening tests volition beryllium restricted, and the wellness ministry volition found a strategy to cod accusation connected everyone who goes to a wellness centre for fertility treatment, pregnancy, delivery, and termination – a determination seemingly designed to grow the monitoring of pregnancies and discourage abortions.

“Restricting the entree of women to escaped contraception goods and services volition pb to unwanted pregnancies and precocious maternal mortality”, the experts warned.

“We volition intimately show the interaction of this instrumentality connected maternal deaths and guarantee accountability for nonaccomplishment to enactment with owed diligence to forestall the decease of women and girls with hazard pregnancies, oregon the decease of those that acquisition unsafe abortions”, they added.

Cruel and degrading

The bundle of measures contained successful the instrumentality could, therefore, magnitude to gender-based unit due to the fact that women denied harmless abortions tin incur intelligence and carnal suffering, according to the UN experts.

Moreover, the criminalization of termination tin represent cruel, degrading, and inhumane treatment, and whitethorn magnitude to torture.

“We impulse the Government to instantly repeal the instrumentality connected ‘Youthful Population and Protection of the Family’ and to instrumentality measures to extremity the criminalization of termination and to guarantee that each women tin entree each indispensable wellness services, including intersexual and reproductive wellness care, successful a mode that is safe, affordable, and accordant with their quality rights”, the experts said.

Special Rapporteurs and autarkic experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and study back connected a circumstantial quality rights taxable oregon a state situation. The positions are honorary and they are not paid for their work.

Click here for the names of those who endorsed this statement.