The right to life is a fundamental human right, central to the enjoyment of all other human rights. International human rights law recognizes this basic right as accruing at birth, and international and regional human rights bodies, as well as courts worldwide, have clearly established that any prenatal protections must be consistent with women’s human rights.
An emerging trend to extend a right to life before birth, and in particular from conception, poses a significant threat to women’s human rights, in theory and in practice. These efforts, often rooted in ideological and religious motivations, are part of a deliberate attempt to deny women the full range of reproductive health services that are essential to safeguarding women’s fundamental rights to life, health, dignity, equality, and autonomy, among others.
International and regional human rights treaties protect a right to life without defining when life begins. Authoritative sources for interpretation—including the history of negotiations and the jurisprudence of the bodies charged with interpreting and monitoring compliance with human rights treaties—clarify that these protections do not apply before birth and recognize that to protect an absolute right to life before birth could contradict human rights protections for women. The histories of negotiations over the terms of human rights treaties (travaux préparatoires), which provide a source for interpretation where the language of a treaty is ambiguous, indicate that right to life provisions are not intended to protect a prenatal right to life. Additionally, treaty monitoring bodies, through general comments, concluding observations, and decisions in individual cases, consistently emphasize the importance of protecting women’s rights, and assert that to guarantee women’s fundamental rights to life and health, among others, States must remove barriers to the full enjoyment of those rights, such as the denial of safe and legal abortions.
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