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32 Colum. J. Gender & L. 62 (2016-2017)
Woman in the European Human Rights System: How Is the Reproductive Rights Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights Constructing Narratives of Women's Citizenship

handle is hein.journals/coljgl32 and id is 72 raw text is: COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF GENDER AND LAW WOMAN IN THE EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM: HOW IS THE REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS JURISPRUDENCE OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS CONSTRUCTING NARRATIVES OF WOMEN'S CITIZENSHIP? LIIRI OJA* & ALICIA ELY YAMIN** Abstract Reproductive rights are constructed through a gender-conscious reading of already recognized human rights. We argue that despite the increasingly strong recognition of reproductive rights in international human rights law by the treaty-monitoring bodies and international tribunals, the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or the Court) reflects a limited understanding of women's experiences, does not adequately challenge gender stereotypes, and often ignores reproductive rights dimensions in the standards it is setting, as well as the narratives it is creating. Our analysis of the Court s jurisprudence on abortion, home birth, non-consensual gynecological examinations, forced sterilizations, and assisted reproduction reveals that a woman s reproductive capacity continues to be her defining feature. Motherhood is seen as a woman t default hfe plan, her decisions regarding her body, health, and ultimately life, are perpetually under scrutiny and the contours ofher agency subject to medical professionals' views, the legislators and the general public. INTRODUCTION In her much-celebrated novel The Handmaid Tale, Margaret Atwood created a society where women's function was reduced to breeding, and those who failed or tried to escape from this labor were labeled as Unwomen and punished.' Atwood's 1985 book may * Liiri Oja is a PhD researcher at the European University Institute. ** Alicia Ely Yamin is Director of the Health and Human Rights Initiative at the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University and Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown Law Center. She is also an Adjunct Lecturer on Law and Global Health at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, a Global Fellow at the Centre for Law and Social Transformation in Norway, and was selected as the 2015-2016 Marsha Lilien Gladstein Visiting Professor of Human Rights, University of Connecticut. 62 32.1

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