CRR Submission for Human Rights Committee’s General Comment on the Right to Life
The Center for Reproductive Rights prepared this submission to the Human Rights Committee in advance of its drafting a revised general comment on the right to life. This submission urges the Committee to reaffirm that the right to life begins at birth and to further clarify that women’s human rights cannot be violated or curtailed by states in order to advance a prenatal “right to life.” Further, this submission highlights the importance of using a gendered lens to elaborate on the right to life, in order to address the particular risks that women face due to their childbearing capacities and socialized gender norms. In this regard, states should eradicate preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, reform restrictive abortion laws and guarantee access to safe abortion services, and put in place effective measures to provide a range of quality contraceptives, free from discrimination, violence and coercion.