Your right to a private and family life encompasses the right to a free choice of whether to become a parent.
Choice not to become a parent
You have the right to decide about sterilisation or the termination of a pregnancy (abortion) if you do not wish to conceive or give birth to a child.
Read more about the choice to become a parent or not.
Information & Access to a sterilisation procedure
Being properly informed in a timely manner about the sterilisation procedure, its risks and impact to your health, as well as access to, and the availability of necessary medical treatment, is also part of the human right to health. Read more about access to information about reproductive health and access to reproductive health care.
Sterilisation procedure
Sterilisation is surgical contraception of a woman or man which irrevocably prevents procreation. It may be carried out:
- with a patient’s written consent if he/she is at least 25 years old
- on the basis of an opinion of a council of doctors and upon the patient’s written consent, if there are specific medical indications. In such a situation, the patient may also be younger than 25 years
What human rights violation may there be?
If you are denied the sterilisation option even though the legal requirements have been met, your right to health may have been violated. Since aspects of your reproductive health are closely linked to your private life, this may have also led to a violation of your right to a private life.
Sterilisation without your consent as a result of medical negligence, may violate your right to a private life.
example A sterilisation procedure carried out during a caesarean section or abortion without your consent, is a violation of your right to a private life.
If a sterilisation procedure is denied only because you belong to a group associated with certain characteristics such as race, origin, religious beliefs, political affiliation, sexual orientation or other similar grounds, it may violate the prohibition on discrimination and unequal treatment.