Last Change:

05/06/2025

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Reproductive HealthCare Rights Act, 2020

Year: 2020

Type: Domestic law

Rights Category: Health

Description

An Act to provide reproductive healthcare and promote reproductive health rights in the Province of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Whereas it is expedient to recognize and promote reproductive health care rights and provide reproductive healthcare in accordance with the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and International Commitments made by the Government of Pakistan

Selected provisions
Section 3 - Powers and functions of the Department.

Department shall-
(a) provide reproductive healthcare information, which provides awareness regarding the mental and physical health and wellbeing of individuals and families and allows service users to make all decisions on the basis of full free and informed consent;
(b) raise public awareness on the prevalence and impact of morbidity and mortality and availability of medical science to prevent this suffering;
(c) ensure through its workers that parents have a right to freely and responsibly decide the number, spacing and timing of their children;
(d) ensure that no person shall be discriminated against in their reproductive lives, in their access to services and information on the grounds of race, color, sex, creed or any other criteria of discrimination;
(e) promote that all women have the right to protect from discrimination in social, domestic or employment spheres by reasons of pregnancies or motherhood;
(f) ensure elimination of all discrimination against women in health care services so that equality of services are possible for both men and women (including those related to family planning) thus all men and women shall have the right to information and services;
(g) protect women from being discriminated on the base of the "gender of baby‟ or not being able to have pregnancy for any reasons;
(h) provide quality family planning services through a range of method mix that includes short acting, long acting and permanent methods including new methods based on informed choice and that the facilities are visible to the communities through better promotion and branding;
(i) reach the underserved by increasing access to the disadvantaged, hard to reach, and vulnerable including poor women and remote marginalized areas by strengthening community-based reproductive health services in addition to other responsibilities;
(j) provide full range of family planning services including Mother Child Health to prevent maternal mortality and morbidity;
(k) impart training to service provider to be gender sensitive and reflect user‟s perspective to the right to privacy and confidentiality;
(l) ensure access and affordability of services at the grass root level;
(m) provide reproductive health family planning service providers and workers with detailed scope of work to be revised from time to time according to the modern practices and technologies;
(n) broaden the scope of Family Planning reproductive health services to various geographical areas, the task shifting mode may be adopted so that mid and lower level workers are involved in provision of services where these are needed but due to lack of human resource are difficult to provide;
(o) safeguard that no person shall be subject to medical trials related to reproductive healthcare without their full, free, informed and written consent;
(p) take stringent measures to prevent the testing and dumping of harmful contraceptives and pharmaceutical in the Province, whether by domestic entities, or multinational corporation;
(q) oversee that no person shall be subjected to forced pregnancy, sterilization, abortion or birth control;
(r) ensure provision of contraceptive commodities are available at reproductive health care facility level and with community-based workers;
(s) receive complaints by any person of violations of the provisions of this Act or the rules;
(t) initiate investigation of cases against reproductive healthcare facility and service providers found to be violating the provisions of this Act or the rules;
(u) plan for and co-ordinate the dissemination of informative and educational materials on reproductive health care and rights and recommend to Government for educational courses for service provider;
(v) frame policies for the promotion and protection of families and matters relating to reproductive health of mothers and its negative impact on children;
(w) monitor service statistics to ensure that unmet need for family planning is reduced;
(x) ensure that all men and women receive information that leads to harmonious marital relations and optimal health and wellbeing of the families in accordance with appropriate social and cultural norms;
(y) include reproductive health education in the curriculum in the secondary and higher secondary level as life skill as a basic education need for all adolescents so that they are well equipped with the necessary biological as well as the physiological changes that they undergo. Life skill are abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enables individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges or everyday life; and
(z) perform any other function as may be assigned to it by Government.

Section 4 - Department to oversee.

(1) Department shall be responsible for oversight of this Act and shall give effect to the provisions herein through all concerned public sector organizations and also through public, civil society organization, private partnership and private organizations.
(2) Department shall evaluate public policies and programs to effectively promote reproductive rights and health, especially reduction of maternal mortality morbidity and prenatal mortality.
(3) civil society-: The following three tiers of action may be taken with and through institutions of
(i) building support and sustainability through strong policies and programmes;
(ii) providing quality services which are accessible; and
(iii) increasing community awareness and involvement of community groups.
(4) Department shall in collaboration with the media and private sector, work on operationalization, implementation and enforcement of this Act, specifically the promotion of the right to reproductive healthcare information and communication activities, and to provide reproductive health services to meet the needs of women and men throughout the reproductive life cycle.
(5) Department may promote and ensure advocacy to create an enabling environment to address the issues of reproductive health, by including these issues in policy dialogue.

Section 7 - Functions of the reproductive health care facility and service provider.

The reproductive health care facility and service provider shall -
(a) encourage, support and protect family planning and reproductive healthcare and rights; and
(b) exhibit provisions of this Act at all conspicuous parts of healthcare facility in national or local language.