Last Change:
05/06/2025
Sindh Reproductive Healthcare Rights Act, 2019
Year: 2019
Type: Domestic law
Rights Category: Health
Description
An Act to facilitate reproductive healthcare and promote reproductive health rights in the Province of Sindh. Whereas it is expedient to facilitate reproductive health care and promote reproductive health care rights in the Province of Sindh.
Selected provisions
(1)The right of reproductive healthcare information shall be promoted-
(a) by providing reproductive healthcare information, which provides awareness regarding mental and physical health and wellbeing of individuals and families, and allows the service users to make all decisions on the basis of full, free, and informed consent;
(b) through parental responsibility, which assures the right of parent as educators;
(c) by including reproductive health education in the curriculum at the secondary and higher secondary school levels as " life skills".
(2) The right to gender neutral information shall be promoted-
(a) by access to information related to the reproductive rights and responsibilities with a gender perspective, which is free from stereotype, discriminatory, coercive and obscurantist customs and is presented in an objective and pluralistic manner;
(b) by recognition that the couple have the right to information whether to start or plan a family including spacing, timing and the number of their children;
(c) by public awareness on the prevalence and impact of morbidity and mortality and availability of medical science to prevent this suffering.
(3)The right to equality and to be free from all forms of discrimination shall be promoted by ensuring that-
(a) no person is discriminated in their reproductive lives, in access to services and information on the grounds of race, color, sex, creed, social status, religion or any other criteria of discrimination;
(b) all women have the right to protection from discrimination in social, domestic or employment spheres by reasons of pregnancies or motherhood “as prescribed”;
(c) elimination of all discrimination against either gender in health care and providing family planning services;
(d) all persons have a right to make independent decisions about their reproductive rights and the right to have decisions respected by others;
(e) women are empowered for their reproductive well- being.
(4) All persons shall have the right to be free from ill treatment and to be protected from sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS, rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based violence.
(1)The need of reproductive healthcare shall be accepted in the following order:-
(i) to provide quality reproductive healthcare through short and long term efforts comprising among others, to professionalize obstetric care, emergency obstetric and neonatal care;
(ii) to improve reproductive healthcare systems, particularly in the primary health care sector;
(iii) to reach underserved persons by increasing access to the disadvantaged and vulnerable by strengthening the basic health units, “rural health centers,” MCH Centres, Family Welfare Centers for the provision of family planning, maternal and neonatal healthcare, in addition to other services;
(iv) to support in diverse ways and means, provision of family planning services;
(v) to meet health needs or requirements of men and women by or through -
(a) family planning services for prevention of unsafe and unplanned pregnancies;
(b) observance of World Health Organization (WHO) standards of antenatal, inter-natal and post natal care including post abortion care which reduces the incidences such as involuntary miscarriage and to increase access to skilled birth attendants;
(c) ensuring pre-service training to all reproductive health care providers by including it in the curriculum of healthcare providers and communities.
The facilitation of reproductive healthcare services shall focus on the following, namely:-
(a) provision of full range of integrated services including family planning which shall address the maternal mortality and morbidity;
(b) provision of quality family planning services through a range of mixed methods which may include short term, long term and permanent methods, and also includes new methods based on informed choice and that the facilities are visible to the communities through better promotion and branding;
(c) broadening the scope of Family Planning and/or Reproductive Health Services to various geographical areas, adoption of task shifting model so that the mid “level” workers are involved in provision of services where needed;
(d) provision of services to reduce infant and neonatal mortality, decrease preterm and stillbirths, all of which are linked to multiple pregnancies without birth spacing;
(e) strengthening the reproductive health care system to ensure quality services by the reproductive health providers which may encourage informed choice and are given in an environment of dignity, confidentiality and continuity;
(f) ensuring commodity security and sustainability so that there is no disruption in the provision of reproductive health care services;
(g) training of reproductive health care providers to be gender sensitive and to reflect user perspective to the right to privacy and confidentiality and also training in interpersonal and communication skills;
(h) enforcement of the public sector approved Manual on Family Planning Standards;
(i) focusing and prioritizing the development and strengthening of the primary health care sector in terms of its access and affordability in reproductive health care;
(j) recognizing that all persons shall have the benefit of and access to available reproductive healthcare technology, including that relating to infertility, which is safe and free from gender discrimination and no person shall be subject to medical trials related to reproductive healthcare without their full, free, informed and written consent;
(k) provision of reproductive healthcare services to persons in privacy and ensuring personal information given thereof is kept confidential;
(l) managing the reproductive life of all persons having regard to the rights of others;
(m) response to disaster situations by Government, which shall include the provision of the Minimum Initial Service Package on Sindh Reproductive Health in crises, and
(n) no person shall be subjected to forced sexual intercourse, pregnancy, sterilization, abortion or birth control.
(1) The Health and Population Departments of the Government shall be responsible for oversight of this Act and shall give effect to the provisions herein through all concerned public sector organizations and public-CSO-private partnership and private organizations.
(2) The Health Department in consultation with any other Department shall lay before the Provincial Assembly, an Annual Report regarding the progress of the implementation of the provisions of this Act