The ability of all people, especially women, to achieve reproductive health is an integral part of their reproductive rights. In 1994, at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, 165 nations endorsed the following definition of reproductive health:
Reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes. Reproductive health therefore implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so. Implicit in this last condition is the right of men and women to be informed and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice, as well as other methods of their choice for regulation of fertility which are not against the law, and the right of access to appropriate health-care services that will enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples with the best chance of having a healthy infant. . . .
A critical aspect of making reproductive health a reality for the world's people is to ensure the access of all to reproductive health care. At ICPD, the international community issued the following statement on the scope of such care:
[R]eproductive health care is defined as the constellation of methods, techniques and services that contribute to reproductive health and well-being by preventing and solving reproductive health problems. It also includes sexual health . . . .
A primary objective of the Center's work is to ensure that all women have access to quality reproductive health care. We view women and men as having a human right to reproductive health care. This human right is based upon the more general international human right to health. Most of the Center's activities in this arena focus on advocating the importance of reproductive health to women's status and on ensuring that governments are committed to the provision of a full range of reproductive health services. Moreover, to assess the manner in which governments are implementing reproductive health programs, we conduct research on worldwide laws relating to reproductive health care.
Abortion
