Dignity Denied: Violation of the Rights of HIV-Positive Women

From the Center for Reproductive Rights

More women than ever before are living with HIV around the world, and too many of them suffer cruel reproductive rights violations. The Center's newest fact-finding report, Dignity Denied: Violations of the Rights of HIV-Positive Women in Chilean Health Facilities, reveals the extent of the problem through the stories of 27 HIV-positive women in Chile.

As our report makes clear, Chilean women living with HIV are routinely denied care, verbally abused, given misleading or inaccurate health information, and pressured to agree to sterilization—or sterilized without their consent. Of the sixteen women we interviewed who were sterilized, only four said that they made a fully informed and voluntary choice to have the procedure.

Their testimonies echo that of our client Francisca*, an HIV-positive Chilean woman who was sterilized without her consent during a Cesarean section. The Center and our Chilean partner Vivo Positivo filed a case on behalf of Francisca, F.S. v. Chile, at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in February 2009.

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Read the full report