Written declaration No. 560 | Doc. 13329 | 03 October 2013
World Contraception Day – Reinforcing the right to make educated choices about becoming pregnant
On 26 September, World Contraception Day, we reaffirm that women’s access to modern contraceptive choice is a crucial component of health, gender equality, employment and education.
Only a few national governments in Europe, among them Germany, Netherlands, France, have targeted reproductive health and rights strategies or public campaigns with information on contraceptives. Meanwhile in five European countries – Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, Serbia - the usage rate of modern contraceptives is below 22%, representing the average for the least developed countries in the world.
International human rights law requires States to provide women with access to a full range of sexual and reproductive health services, including making affordable contraceptive methods available and providing appropriate information on them.
We urge:
- Governments to adopt policies that will ensure access to all modern contraceptive methods for people of all socioeconomic classes and age groups, and to include age-appropriate sexuality education as a mandatory element of their school curriculum.
- The Committee of Ministers to address the inequalities in access to modern contraception in Council of Europe member States and bring this debate to the fore