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Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The pervasive misconception that adolescents, both with and without disabilities, lack the capacity to make autonomous decisions about their own health care is a major barrier to girls and young women with and without disabilities when they attempt to access sexual and reproductive health information and services. Many States legally limit the ability of adolescents to make autonomous choices about their sexual and reproductive health and rights by requiring parental notification or consent prior to the provision of information and services, or by permitting health-care providers to deny reproductive health information, goods and services to adolescents. Moreover, for young women with disabilities over legal age, legislation restricting their legal capacity on the basis of disability and misconceptions about their perceived lack of capacity prevent many of them from making autonomous decisions about sexual and reproductive health-care services. Those restrictive circumstances result in an impenetrable barrier for girls and young women with disabilities, especially for those requiring support to express their will and preferences, since such support is usually provided by the family. Consequently, in many cases, girls and young women with disabilities have no control over their own sexual and reproductive lives, as decisions are taken for them under the paternalistic guise of “for their own good” (see A/67/227, para. 36). Denying access to sexual and reproductive health care to girls and young women with disabilities is a form of violence, which also exposes them to the risks of unwanted pregnancy, early marriage and school dropout.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
1 shown of 1 entities