Universal-Womens-accesss-to-justice-Publications-Practitioners-Guide-Series-2016-ENG

62 PRACTITIONERS GUIDE No. 12
abortion, may constitute torture or ill-treatment, because such
bans put women at increased risk of maternal mortality or
morbidity. The Committee has required that access to abortion
services be secured where a woman’s life or health is at stake,
where the pregnancy is the result of rape and sexual violence,
or the foetus is not viable. The Committee has also treated as a
violation of the Convention against Torture the denial of postabortion
healthcare, including denial of access to pain relief,
and the practice of doctors reporting to the police cases where
they suspect a woman has sought an abortion. 165
Coerced surgeries
Human rights experts have also expressed concern that
transgender and intersex people are forced or coerced into
surgeries that they do not want, such as sterilization, for
reasons such as to obtain legal recognition for their chosen
gender. 166
Respect: (b) Ensuring equal treatment in law and
practice
The CEDAW Committee has identified the obligation to respect
as requiring that “States parties refrain from making laws,
policies, regulations, programmes, administrative procedures
and institutional structures that directly or indirectly result in
165
Centre for Reproductive Rights, Briefing Paper: “Reproductive
Rights Violations as Torture and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading
Treatment or Punishment: A Critical Human Rights Analysis” (2010),
URL:http://www.reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/
documents/TCIDT.pdf; and Centre for Reproductive Rights, Fact
Sheet: “Reproductive Rights Violations as Torture or Ill-Treatment”,
URL:http://www.reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/
documents/Reproductive_Rights_Violations_As_Torture.pdf.
166
Amnesty International, “’The State decides who I am’: Lack of legal
gender recognition for transgender people in Europe”, AI Index EUR
01/001/2014.