Surviving Pregnancy and Childbirth: An International Human Right
The right to survive pregnancy and childbirth is implicit in women’s fundamental human right to life. Women’s enjoyment of that right isdependent upon their ability to exercise three other basic human rights: the rights to health care, non-discrimination and reproductive self-determination. Holding governments legally accountable for the realization of these rights is a powerful means of overcoming acceptance of death during pregnancy or childbirth as an unavoidable risk of womanhood. This briefing paper approaches maternal survival as a human right.
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Claiming Our Rights: Surviving Pregnancy and Childbirth in Mali
The human rights fact-finding report entitled Claiming Our Rights: Surviving Pregnancy and Childbirth in Mali, released by the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Association des Juristes Maliennes, documents factors contributing to Mali’s high maternal mortality ratio, and recommends ways to secure women’s right to survive pregnancy. As is true of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, women in Mali face an unacceptably high risk of dying during pregnancy and childbirth. An estimated one in 19 women dies from pregnancy-related causes in Mali.
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Maternal Health: Implications for Children and Adolescents (PDF)
"Deaths and injuries to women due to complications during pregnancy and delivery and after childbirth threaten not only the lives and health of mothers, but also their newborns and older children. For adolescent women, pregnancy and early childbearing often pose special health risks. Over 500,000 women die each year from pregnancy-related causes (about 1,450 per day or 1 death per minute), and pregnancy-related complications cause life-long injury to millions more. 99 percent of these deaths are in developing countries, where complications from pregnancy and childbirth on average take the lives of 1 out of every 61 women.
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