HUNGARY: Support Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights

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HUNGARY: Support Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights
 

– Reported, January 24, 2012

 

Backlash and resistance surrounding women’s human rights continued this week in Hungary. In an open letter published today in the Hungarian Daily Népszabadság, Catholics for Choice President Jon O’Brien discusses the reality that abortion could become illegal as a result of Hungary’s proposed constitution, asserting that “It comes in the guise of a move to modernize the constitution that includes a provision that would protect human life from the moment of conception. The inclusion of such a clause could effectively do away with access to abortion, despite the fact that the majority of Hungarians support abortion rights.” O’Brien went on to emphasise the adverse effects that this would have on women, especially those who are young and living in poverty, asserting that “Whether legal or illegal, women everywhere need to have access to abortion services, and policies which restrict access to safe abortion place women’s lives, and the well-being of their families and communities, at grave risk.” The proposed constitution would also limit women’s access to other sexual and reproductive health services, including access to emergency medical care and in-vitro fertilisation.

In response to this The European Women’s Lobby has initated a letter-writing campaign and is calling on people to send letters to the Hungarian Prime Minister to protect women’s reproductive and sexual rights throughout the constitutional reform process. WGRR stands in solidarity with The European Women’s Lobby, Catholics for Choice, other women’s rights organisations and LGBTQ rights organisations in emphasising that women’s reproductive and sexual health rights, as well as the rights of LGBTQ people must not be compromised during the constitutional reform process.

Another recent example of the backlash against women’s sexual and reproductive rights in Hungary is the recent prosecution of Hungarian midwife Agnes Gereb, and the increasing criminalization of natural birth providers. Gereb is an internationally-renowned midwife whose sentence is surprisingly harsh: she will spend up to a year in prison without parole and will be unable to practice as an obstetrician and midwife for five years.

Mary Jane Real of The Women’s Human Rights Defenders International Coalition emphasises that the court’s ruling is problematic and violates the rights of women who perform natural births as well as those who seek their services. “The court’s decision confirmed the double standards that apply when dealing with birth difficulties arising in hospital verse out of hospital situations. In Hungary, the many annual hospital deaths that occur never appear in a criminal court while nearly all midwives contested birth actions are automatically brought into the criminal jurisdiction. Many highly respected international experts submitted written expert opinions attesting that the Hungarian midwives had not committed any errors at the births, but unfortunately they were not allowed to present their evidence before the judge. Instead, the only experts present in court were the many Hungarian doctors attesting on behalf of the prosecution. The Court failed to recognize that homebirths strive to avoid the use of unnecessary interventions and the judge evaluated the midwives actions by reference to hospital protocols when coming to his conclusions. Despite the imminent introduction of first-time homebirth regulations no professional midwifery body will exist who could evaluate the birth actions of midwives as is the case in nearly all other developed countries.”

Real went on to assert that “Hungarian and international supporters of Dr. Geréb and of the natural birth process will now set out, through the various channels available to them, to voice their objection and condemnation of the judgement handed down in this case. It is one that confirms the continued criminalization of homebirth in Hungay affecting the midwives who provide the medical care and the hundreds of parents who yearly chose this option.”

WGNRR stands in solidarity with Hungarian and international supporters of Dr. Geréb, and emphasises that the ability for women to obtain comprehensive maternal health care is fundamental to the realisation of reproductive and sexual health rights for all women. Central to this as well is the ability for all women to have access to safe, free, legal abortion, access to contraceptives and family planning, and freedom from sterialisation abuse.

Credits: Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights

More Information at:
 http://www.wgnrr.org/news/hungary-support-womens-sexual-and-reproductive-health-rights