A/79/177 essential abortion-related medicines, including mifepristone and misoprostol, a shortage of supplies and with obstructions in training for health workers to provide abortion care 74 and a reluctance of some health-care workers to offer such care. 75 36. Women and children belonging to racial, ethnic and national minorities, for example, have a higher incidence of unintended pregnancies and greater abortion rates, particularly Black women, 76 and are also more often prosecuted in that regard. 77 4. Sex work78 37. As of March 2023, over 150 countries criminalized some aspect of sex work. 79 Legal frameworks that criminalize sex work are based on the premise that the use of criminal law will successfully eradicate or diminish the sex industry. However, research consistently indicates that criminalising sex work fails to do so, 80 and negatively affects the health of sex workers. 81 Criminalization heightens their exclusion from accessing essential health services. 82 Equally, criminalization denies them basic labour protections, including occupational health and safety protections, that are afforded to workers in other industries. 83 Further, criminalization escalates health risks for sex workers, as the fear of arrest leads to rushed transactions, riskier sexual practices, or encounters in secluded venues where they have less control. 84 38. Criminalization increases rates of harassment, violence and crime against sex workers, besides making them less likely to report these abuses to the authorities out of fear of arrest. 85 Likewise, punitive approaches can perpetuate stigma, thereby hampering access to health care, including regular screening and medical care, adequate prevention, as well as access to other necessary health services and information. 86 39. Sex work is a largely feminized industry that follows pre-existing patriarchal, racial and class-based hierarchies. 87 In a recent study with sex workers, researchers found that 74 per cent of participants lived below the poverty line, 70 per cent had experienced unstable housing and almost 60 per cent had low levels of formal education, which limited their employment options. 88 Sex workers are also often indirectly criminalized through the criminalization of other behaviours adopted by marginalized and disadvantaged communities, including the criminalization of drug use and possession, same sex-relations, or certain sexual orientations or gender identities, and homelessness. 89 __________________ 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 10/28 A/66/254, paras. 21–36. WHO, Abortion Care Guideline, pp. 12–13. CERD/C/USA/CO/6, para. 33. Colombia, Penal Code, Law No. 599 of 24 July 2000, Official Gazette, No. 44,097 (24 July 2004), para. 363. OHCHR, “A guide on the human rights of sex workers”, 14 March 2024. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), “New legal principles launched on International Women’s Day to advance decriminalization efforts”, 8 March 2023. Sean Bland and Benjamin Brooks, “Improving laws and policies to protect sex workers and promote health and well-being: a report on the criminalization of sex work in the District of Columbia” (2020). A/HRC/14/20, para. 34. OHCHR, “A guide on the human rights of sex workers”. A/HRC/14/20, para. 27. Ibid., paras. 36–37. WHO, Consolidated Guidelines on HIV, Viral Hepatitis and STI Prevention . Bland and Brooks, Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers. A/HRC/WG.11/39/1, para. 3. Bland and Brooks, Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers, p. 13. A/HRC/WG.11/39/1, para. 12. 24-13226