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Call for maternal health legislation

NEW DELHI: The Centre for Reproductive Rights has called upon the legal fraternity to seek accountability for human rights violation arising from maternal mortality.

Collaborate with activists and public health experts to develop PIL claiming that the right to survive pregnancy and childbirth is a constitutionally protected right, a report “Maternal Mortality in India: Using International and Constitutional law to Promote Accountability and Change” has recommended.

The Centre has sought court intervention to direct the legislative bodies to introduce comprehensive maternal health legislation based on human rights standards.

The report released here on Saturday says that public interest petitions should be filed to seek court orders for immediate implementation of service guarantees for pregnant women under the National Rural Health Mission, elimination of provisions that makes maternal health care conditional on consent for sterilisation and denying benefits to certain categories of women.

It says that there should be clarity of the purpose of monetary incentives for pregnant women and punishment for those who make informal demands for money from pregnant women.

Citing instances where courts had intervened to give justice to victims, the report suggested that legislation should include official guarantees of maternal health services, including emergency obstetric care, enforceable standards for ensuring quality of care, patient’s right to privacy, confidentiality and informed decision making.

Steps should also be taken to develop multi-pronged legal accountability strategies for addressing issues relating to maternal mortality like lack of access to contraceptives, unsafe abortion and child marriage by stringent implementation of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and the Child Marriage Restraint Act.

The report recommends engaging the National Commission for Women and the National Human Rights Commission for monitoring and accountability strategies.

According to the National Family Health Survey-III, maternal mortality ratio had fallen from 400 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1997 to 301 deaths in 2006.

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