JGLS Centre for Health Law Ethics and Technology releases report on Access to Contraceptive Services and Information in the State of Haryana

On February 20, 2013, at the Constitution Club of India, New Delhi, Satyabrata Pal, Member, National Human Rights Commission, released a report of a Research Study on “Voices from the Field: Access to Contraceptive Services and Information in the State of Haryana”..The study was undertaken by the Centre for Health Law, Ethics and Technology (CHLET) at Jindal Global Law School. This study presents findings from a multi-stakeholder analysis and includes human rights assessment of the various economic, social, and cultural barriers that impede women in Haryana from realizing their Fundamental Right to Access Contraceptive Services and Information. Two hundred and eighty eight women were interviewed in five districts of Haryana, in addition to the interviews of ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers, healthcare workers and pharmacies..One of the ASHA workers, voicing her concerns on the non-availability of comprehensive information on the full range of contraceptive methods, said, “We are stuck between the government and the villagers. We cannot provide them with proper care due to lack of training and the government does not provide us with training. There is no motivation to work in this field. I will quit if I do not get proper pay soon.”.Research carried out under the study further revealed that the pharmacies sell contraceptives which are past the expiration date and women do not have access to adequate sexual and reproductive health education and information and that they face incredible social and cultural barriers to contraception..CHLET’s research study’s report concludes with some broad recommendations, which include: 1) the creation and implementation of family planning policies that provide comprehensive information on the full range of contraceptive methods, rather than singularly pushing for sterilization, and to focus on providing the information and means to enable people to make informed reproductive health related decisions; 2) ensure that a full range of contraceptive methods, which include female condoms and diaphragms, are made accessible and available to women; 3) improve the quality of contraceptive services and information, by training health workers and ASHA workers and by ensuring that contraceptives are not sold past the expiration; and 4) provide sexual and reproductive health information to women and young girls..Prof. C. Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University said, “The study reinforces the importance of the constitutional right to life, health and contraceptive access by women, and the immediate need for the State to formulate and implement policies that uphold such a right. Countries, especially India, need to recognize that access to contraceptive services and information is of utmost importance for the empowerment of women and realization of their rights, autonomy and human dignity..Prof. Dipika Jain, Executive Director of the Centre for Health Law, Ethics and Technology at Jindal Global Law School, author of the study said, “A review of Haryana’s policies demonstrates that many of Haryana’s family policy strategies are dissonant with the target-free approach of the National Population Policy. One of the main findings of our report is that although several of Haryana’s policies encourage temporary and spacing methods, the push is largely towards sterilization. By creating and enforcing such policies, Haryana is violating its duties and obligations under a human rights framework. There is a need for systematic reforms to move from population control based approach to human rights based approach and create an enabling environment access to contraceptive services and information.”.This report was prepared by JGLS student, Shreyas Gupta