Choice not to become a parent
Your right to a private and family life encompasses the right to a free choice of whether 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 18 years old. Meanwhile, considering the fact that this is an irreversible medical procedure, some countries have the experience of established safeguarding restrictions, for example, a higher minimum age of the patient, need of an opinion of a council of doctors or specific medical indications. In Moldova, although there are no such particular restrictions, the relevant Standardized clinical protocols in force require that the patient must benefit from particularly careful counselling, to ensure that the person takes a fully informed decision without any pressure and will not later regret the decision made.
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.