Recent news reports from around the world about invasive, life-altering reproductive health procedures performed without knowledge or consent, if true, are a serious cause for alarm. Whenever a woman is denied the power to make her own decisions about whether, when or how often to become pregnant, her internationally recognized human rights are violated. This is not just the view of UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. It is the position of the 179 governments that adopted the 1994 Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, which recognizes the right of all people to decide freely the number, spacing and timing of their children and their right to make decisions free of discrimination, coercion and violence.
UNFPA strongly condemns any violations of women's sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, wherever they occur.
