4.1.2 Marilyn Beaumont
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4.1.2 AWHN Conference 6 2010 Federation: Balancing rights to improve women’s sexual and reproductive health
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4.1.2 Marilyn Beaumont
- 1. URL: http://www.whv.org.au Email: whv@whv.org.au Phone: 9662 3755 Balancing rights to improve women’s sexual and reproductive health MARILYN BEAUMONT Executive Director, Women’s Health Victoria
- 2. URL: http://www.whv.org.au Email: whv@whv.org.au Phone: 9662 3755 Presentation overview Feminism and human rights frameworks Abortion law reform in Victoria Show how a balance of rights can be achieved
- 3. URL: http://www.whv.org.au Email: whv@whv.org.au Phone: 9662 3755 Balancing rights – sexual and reproductive rights and rights relating to freedom of conscience, religion and belief.
- 4. URL: http://www.whv.org.au Email: whv@whv.org.au Phone: 9662 3755 Human Rights Frameworks CEDAW Article 16(1)(e) Women should be able to – Decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights.
- 5. URL: http://www.whv.org.au Email: whv@whv.org.au Phone: 9662 3755 Australia’s Human Rights Framework was released in April 2010 http://www.ag.gov.au/humanrightsframework It follows consultation and review: National Human Rights Consultation in December 2008 Human Rights Consultation Committee Report (HRCCR) published in September 2009.
- 6. URL: http://www.whv.org.au Email: whv@whv.org.au Phone: 9662 3755 Australia’s Human Rights Framework has the following components: Reaffirm Educate Engage Protect Respect
- 7. URL: http://www.whv.org.au Email: whv@whv.org.au Phone: 9662 3755 Human rights as advocacy tools – using a rights based approach to improve health
- 8. URL: http://www.whv.org.au Email: whv@whv.org.au Phone: 9662 3755 Participation Accountability Non-discrimination Empowerment Linkages – to international human rights instruments
- 9. URL: http://www.whv.org.au Email: whv@whv.org.au Phone: 9662 3755 Abortion Law Reform Act (Vic) 2008 • Removed abortion from the Crimes Act • Outlines access to abortion as a health service • Specifies requirements of conscientious objectors
- 10. URL: http://www.whv.org.au Email: whv@whv.org.au Phone: 9662 3755 Section 8, Abortion Law Reform Act (Vic) 2008: (1) If a women requests a registered health practitioner to advise on a proposed abortion, or to perform, direct, authorise or supervise an abortion for that woman, and the practitioner has a conscientious objection to abortion, the practitioner must – (a) Inform the woman that the practitioner has a conscientious objection to abortion; and (b) Refer the woman to another registered health practitioner in the same regulated health profession who the practitioner knows does not have a conscientious objection to abortion.
- 11. URL: http://www.whv.org.au Email: whv@whv.org.au Phone: 9662 3755 Impact on women when a health professional won’t comply with section 8 • Compromises her health • Violates her ability to make an informed decision • Causes trauma • Inefficient, inconsistent and inequitable health services for women
- 12. URL: http://www.whv.org.au Email: whv@whv.org.au Phone: 9662 3755 Human rights and women’s health
Editor's Notes
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- Human rights are a powerful way of thinking about social justice, power and violations of power. This aligns human rights with women’s health and our feminist understandings of what causes health and ill-health. Today, I am going to talk about how human rights can be the means by which women’s lives can be improved. I am also going to talk about the need to balance human rights – unless that occurs, human rights can also be the means by which women’s sexual and reproductive health is compromised. I will explore human rights frameworks that we can use as advocacy tools and use the experience of the Abortion Law Reform Act in Victoria in 2008 to demonstrate how a balance of rights can be achieved <number>
- The sexual and reproductive rights of women are often compromised by rights relating to freedom of conscience, religion and belief. The process of balancing rights is a complex one, but we do it all the time. This balancing needs to be acknowledged and made transparent And why, if we privilege some rights over others, why we do that. Individuals should not be discriminated against because they hold or do not hold particular religious beliefs. Woman have the right to be treated equally and with dignity and respect. Rights about freedom of conscience, religion and belief must be balanced with a woman’s right to be treated equally and with dignity and respect. This equality is about removing barriers to services and recognising the inherent dignity that exists in controlling and making decisions about one’s own body. So, in relation to abortion, it requires thinking of pregnancy from the perspective of the pregnant woman. The example I am going to use today is termination of pregnancy, and particularly, the conscientious objection clause of the Abortion Law Reform Bill 2008, which passed into law recently in Victoria. <number>
- CEDAW UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women to which Australia is now a signatory states that Women should be able to – Decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights. Other frameworks that could be used to respond to religious rights include, for example, the right to health in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights <number>
- http://www.ag.gov.au/humanrightsframework Australia’s Human Rights Framework was released in April 2010. It follows consultation and review: National Human Rights Consultation in December 2008 Human Rights Consultation Committee Report (HRCCR) published in September 2009. The Government announced that it will provide $18.3 million over four years to implement the measures in the Framework. It will review operation of the Framework in 2014 to assess its effectiveness in the protection and promotion of human rights in Australia. The new Framework does not include a Human Rights Act, as recommended in the Human Rights Consultation Committee Report. WHILE the Rudd government announced that it supports calls for human rights education and greater scrutiny of legislation that might breach human rights, it stopped short of supporting a charter of rights. Clearly the government is nervous about being seen to be too supportive of this approach to protecting freedoms and entitlements. This nervousness no doubt reflects the fears that have been publicly expressed since the Brennan committee reported to the federal government last September. Criticism goes along the lines of Joe Hockey’s claim last month when he said that “personal and social liberties are being trampled in the pursuit of human rights”. The theme emerging is a fear about what will happen if federal legislative protections for human rights in Australia are adopted. Or, to put it less kindly, a desire to incite fear about a human rights charter being adopted means that our individual liberties would be dangerously limited by any substantive articulation of human rights in federal legislation. This argument is about the importance that individuals must retain a sphere of freedom in their lives within which government could not interfere. John Stuart Mill, Hockey’s favourite philosopher, argued that there should be limits on our individual liberties when their pursuit threatens the liberties of others. That is, individuals should only be free to pursue their version of the good life to the extent that they do not prevent others from doing so. There is a link here to limitations on the extent to which an individual doctors religious or moral view about the full range of sexual or reproductive health services should prevent women from equitably accessing such services. <number>
- Australia’s Human Rights Framework has components on: Reaffirm – commitment to seven existing UN treaties to which Australia is a party and already honouring. Educate - there is $12.4 million allocated for education across the community including the Commonwealth public sector, to promote a greater understanding of human rights. This includes consideration of the need for public servants to consider human rights in policy making. There maybe an opportunity here to advocate that a gender and diversity lens should be used to promote consideration of human rights in policy making. Engage – includes engagement with the international community (this isn’t new), development of a National Action Plan (not clear when this will happen) and NGO forums on human rights. Protect – includes legislation and establishment of a Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights to scrutinise legislation for compliance, and Respect – provides a new process for promoting compliance So although there will not be a national human rights act, this move towards a human rights framework, education, and the incorporation of human rights into public service decisions is still important. <number>
- Human rights frameworks therefore become advocacy tools – a language for highlighting injustice and inequity that we may not have used before. In Victoria and the ACT, there are human rights charters that outline these rights and can be referred to and used directly. A rights-based approach provides a framework to address the inequality, injustice and disadvantage that contributes to poor health. It provides the means by which women and their advocates can articulate wrongs and violations. <number>
- In Victoria, building a human rights culture is about more than the technical compliance with the Charter. A rights-based approach known as the PANEL principles has been developed by the Victorian Equal Opportunity Human Rights Commission. These have been adapted from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights material They are Participation – involving all stakeholders in assessment, decision making and evaluation Accountability – made clear to achieve desired outcomes Non-discrimination and explicitly targeting vulnerable groups for involvement Empowerment to improve the capacity of people to claim and exercise their rights Linkages – to international human rights instruments and linking planning, policies and practices to human rights principles and standards It is a process driven human rights based approach to developing policy, conducting research and delivering services. The Commission will report against these principles annually Although the Victorian Charter falls short of requiring gender analysis of policies and laws in Victoria I do think that the panel principles strengthen our feminist ways of working as these principles, and principles of women-centred practice and advocacy, are shared. <number>
- The conscientious objection clause of the Abortion Law Reform Act is an example of how rights can be balanced in legislation. It has been the most debated clause in the Act and continues to require action on implementation. It is about balancing different rights and it highlights how the process of balancing competing rights needs to be a transparent process. The Abortion Law Reform Act came after a long and unrelenting campaign by pro-choice advocates in Victoria. It removed abortion from the Victorian Crimes Act. It articulates the grounds upon which abortion may take place It prevents the injustice of criminalising innocent women and men for exercising responsible choices It places the decision regarding abortion up to 28 weeks in the hands of the pregnant woman and post 28 weeks with the woman and 2 doctors It states the obligations of health practitioners with a conscientious objection to abortion. The conscientious objection clause was the most hotly contested and debated part of the Bill in the Parliament because it tackled this issue head on. It codified health professional ethics so individual health professionals are required to take care not to fall into the moralising trap of imposing their personal values on others — in this instance, women who have decided, for whatever moral reason, to abort a pregnancy which, if carried to full term, would have intolerable consequences for them. <number>
- This is section 8 of the Act, that deals with conscientious objection. It reads: It places a requirement on health professionals to inform a woman of their objection to abortion It places an obligation on the health professional to refer that woman to another health professional. The use of the word refer is not a referral directly to an abortion service provider but to another health professional who does not have a conscientious objection to abortion so the woman will be supported in exploring her options. The woman may or may not go on to terminate her pregnancy. The purpose of the clause is to ensure that women receive timely, accurate information from a professional who does not hold an objection to the health service that she seeks. It is about balancing different sets of rights – it balances women’s rights with an individual’s right to conscientiously object. The clause strikes the right balance – it makes specific the way in which health professionals can express their objection to abortion, without compromising the ability of women to make informed choices about a legal health service. A refusal by a health professional to comply with the conscientious objection clause has a number of consequences for women. <number>
- if the doctor communicates his/her objection in a way which generates feelings of guilt, shame or fear for the woman she may not seek the care and support she needs and her physical and mental health are compromised by the doctor There may be limited options for women in rural and remote locations because of the scarcity of providers a woman’s ability to make an informed decision is violated particularly if the woman is unaware that she has received wrong or misleading information, or is unaware of her options. Informed decision making arises from an equalisation of power between the health service provider and the user. When women are informed and supported in their decisions, their decisions are more likely to match up with their own preferences, values, and concerns. Trauma can be caused to a woman already traumatised, for example in pregnancy as a result of rape, diagnosis of foetal abnormality, relationship breakdown arising from the pregnancy Health service availability, affordability and quality should not be based on the providers moral views being imposed on the service user. Women would not access and potentially pay for a service which shames them. <number>
- So I believe that the equitable provision of comprehensive health services for women across Australian can be strengthened and promoted by enlivening human rights. Using human rights frameworks also has the potential to create a broader coalition of voices and a bigger base upon which we can continue our work and develop our expertise in women’s health As we found using the Victorian Charter in achieving abortion law reform in Victoria Thank you <number>