UN report links reproductive rights to poverty

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The global ambition to end poverty by 2030 will never be met without addressing the issue of reproductive rights, according to a new UN report.

The State of World Population 2017 Report by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) was released to coincide with the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which falls on October 17 every year, and focuses on global targets contained in the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.

Richard Kollodge /UN photo

"This new UNFPA report argues that these goals, especially the one to end poverty, may never be achieved without first tearing down economic, social, geographic and other barriers that hundreds of millions of women face every day in exercising their reproductive rights," Richard Kollodge, the report’s editor, told reporters at UN Headquarters on Tuesday.

"This report is careful to note that you cannot fix economic inequality just by fixing inequalities in reproductive health. However, the report does make the case that progress toward economic equality is possible if you make sure that all women have the power, the information and the means to decide whether, when, with whom and how often to have children."

Inequality is often understood in terms of income or wealth but there are other dimensions, Kollodge said, citing the enjoyment or denial of reproductive rights as one that has been largely ignored.

AFP Photo

"Economic inequality divides countries into haves and have-nots; inequality in reproductive rights divide people into cans and can-nots," he said.

Without access to contraception, poor women, particularly those who are less educated and live in rural areas, are at heightened risk of unintended pregnancy, which may result in health risks and lifelong economic repercussions, said the report.

The unmet demand for family planning in developing countries is generally greatest among women in the poorest 20 percent of households, it said.

This year's theme for International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is "Answering the Call of October 17 to End Poverty: A Path Toward Peaceful and Inclusive Societies."

(Cover photo via Healthline)

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency