Priorities for the work of the Independent Expert and the twentieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities 2012, para. 79
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Minority women may also face additional challenges in terms of access to reproductive health care. Indeed, several factors, including poverty, living in remote geographic areas where maternal health services are poor and/or inaccessible, and the lack of cultural awareness among maternal health practitioners, can greatly contribute to increasing maternal mortality among minority women. Minority women might have to deal with restrictions on their reproductive rights from within their own communities, including with regard to the use of contraception. The practice of early marriages in minority communities can have a significant impact on the health of women and their access to education or employment. Other discriminatory practices and policies in society in general include forced sterilization, used for some minority women because of their belonging to a particular minority group.