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unborn child’s right to life
21
or surrogacy.
22
Other concepts can also be related to
reproductive rights, or broadly to sexual and reproductive health (maternal mortality,
family planning services and programmes, female genital mutilation, sexually transmitted
infections etc.).
Different scholars offer different views on how to define reproductive rights. However,
they commonly approach reproductive rights in broad terminology: reproductive self-
determination,
23
(sexual and) reproductive health,
24
reproductive care
25
or reproductive
choices.
26
For instance, Cook examines more than 17 separate rights; she includes these in
four categories
27
forming the concept of reproductive self-determination.
As a secondary means of protection, reproductive rights are also covered on the
international level by norms of international criminal law related especially to the
crime of genocide and crimes against humanity.
28
Human dignity
is certainly a concept of the legal discourse, but it has a deeper
rooting in many areas of human society – philosophy, ethics, morality etc. As
human dignity exceeds all limits of state-based society, it is anchored in
ius naturalis
conceptions. “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”
29
Human dignity is somewhat in the centre of human rights protection, as nearly all
human rights spring from this concept.
30
As a concept of
ius naturalis
, strictly embedded in human nature, human dignity
cannot be (or at least should not be) a subject of so-called democratic process. It is not
a matter of debate and interpretation.
31
Human dignity is something that is “intrinsic
21
Vo v. France, (no. 53924/00), 8 July 2004. In the Factsheet on reproductive rights the Court uses the
term ‘unborn child and right to life’. I am deliberately using the expression ‘unborn child’s right to life’.
22
Joint cases Mennesson and Others v. France and Labassee v. France (no. 65192/11) and (no. 65941/11),
26 June 2014.
23
COOK, Rebecca J. Human Rights and Reproductive Self-determination. 44 American University Law
Review, 1994-1995, p. 975.
24
GABLE, Lance. Reproductive Health as Human Right. 60 Case Western Reserve Law Review,
2009–2010, p. 957. ZAMPAS, Christina, ANDINO-IBAŇEZ, Xiména. Conscientious Objection to
Sexual and Reproductive Health Services: International Human Rights Standards and European Law
and Practice. European Journal of Health Law 19 (2012) 231-256.
25
STORROW, Richard F. Travel into the Future of Reproductive Technology. 79 UMKC Law Review,
2010–2011, p. 295.
26
VALONGO, Alessia. Human Rights and Reproductive Choices in the Case-law of Italian and
European Courts. European Journal of Health Law 21 (2014), p. 123-140.
27
Rights relating to reproductive security and sexuality, Rights relating to reproductive health, Rights
relating to reproductive equality and Rights relating to reproductive decision making.
28
Eg. International Criminal Court Statute, Art. 6 and 7.
29
1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 1.
30
We speak about human rights which are strictly linked to the human person and which do not need a
State-based environment (e.g. political rights).
31
VON GEUSAU, Alting. Human Dignity and the Law in Post-War Europe. Roots and Reality of an
Ambiguous Concept. Wolf Legal Publishers, 2013, p. 40.