39.
40.
notably that the evidence of prior psychiatric examination is not necessary to
establish the risk to mental health.
The Protocol guarantees the right to terminate a pregnancy when the woman's
life is threatened. Yet women’s lives are in danger when they have no access to
legal security procedures, which obliges them to resort to unsafe, illegal
abortions. Maternal mortality from abortions performed in unhealthy conditions
is a high risk, particularly for adolescent girls who seek to terminate pregnancies
through unqualified or unspecialized service providers, or through abortions that
are induced using dangerous procedures, products and objects.
Safe abortions may be required by women whose pregnancies pose risks to the
life of the mother or the foetus. That is the case, for example, where it is
demonstrated that the foetus which is developing suffers from deformities that
are incompatible with survival, so being forced to carry the pregnancy to term
would constitute cruel and inhuman treatment. This can also occur in women
who need special medical treatment for heart disease, cancer or other diseases
which may endanger the survival of the foetus.
General obligations of the State: respect, protect, promote and fulfill
rights
41. Article 14.1. a), b), c) and f) and Article 14 2. a) and (c)) impose four general
obligations on State parties, like several provisions on human rights: respect, protect,
promote and fulfill rights thereof.
42. The obligation to respect rights requires State parties to refrain from hindering,
directly or indirectly, women's rights and to ensure that women are duly informed
on family planning/contraception and safe abortion services, which should be
available, accessible, acceptable and of good quality.
43. The obligation to protect requires State parties to take the necessary measures to
prevent third parties from interfering with the enjoyment of women’s sexual and
reproductive rights. Particular attention must be given to prevention, as regards the
interference of third parties concerning the rights of vulnerable groups such as
adolescent girls, women living with disabilities, women living with HIV and women
in situations of conflict. The obligation entails the formulation of standards and
guidelines containing the precision that the consent and involvement of third parties,
including but limited to, parents, guardians, spouses and partners, is not required
when adult women and adolescent girls want to access family
planning/contraception and safe abortion services in the cases provided for in the
Protocol.
44. The obligation to promote obliges State parties to create the legal, economic and
social conditions that enable women to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights
with regard to family planning/contraception and safe abortion, as well as to enjoy
them. An essential step towards eliminating stigmatization and discrimination
related to reproductive health includes, but is not limited to, supporting women's
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