Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 32

Paragraph

Paragraph text: There is a worrisome and growing number of cases of surgical procedures and hormonal treatments intended to inhibit the growth of girls and young women with severe impairments. Hysterectomy, for example, is regarded as an effective way to avoid menstruation management,42 and it is justified on the discriminatory presumption that girls and young women with disabilities cannot handle the pain, discomfort and trauma of menstruation — an argument not applicable to girls and women without disabilities. Oestrogen treatment is also being increasingly administered for “growth-attenuation therapy”, aiming to inhibit girls’ entry into puberty and reduce their final height and weight in order to facilitate care. Those practices constitute gross human rights violations that go well beyond patronizing and infantilizing; they prioritize the interests of caregivers to the detriment and denial of a person’s dignity and integrity. As the Committee on the Rights of the Child has emphasized, the interpretation of a child’s best interests cannot be used to justify practices that conflict with the child’s human dignity and right to physical integrity. Stunting a girl’s growth does not represent, by any means, an appropriate response to the lack of support that families may encounter in providing assistance to their girls with disabilities.

Body: Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities

Topic(s)

Person(s) affected