Zeid Al’Hussein,
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement on Monday in
Geneva that laws and policies that restrict women access to these
services must be urgently reviewed in line with human rights
obligations.
He said that this has become necessary in order to ensure any affected woman the right to health for all in practice.
The
virus has been linked to microcephaly, a condition that leads to babies
being born with small heads and birth defects. The United States of
America Centre for Disease Control & Prevention states that
microcephaly is linked to
- Seizures
- Developmental delay, such as problems with speech or other developmental milestones (like sitting, standing, and walking)
- Intellectual disability (decreased ability to learn and function in daily life)
- Problems with movement and balance
- Feeding problems, such as difficulty swallowing
- Hearing loss
- Vision problems
His Spokeswoman, Cecile Pouilly, said there are some Countries like El Salvador, Malta, Poland and Liechtenstein amongst others that criminalise abortion.
She explained that as a result of such law, the commission was asking those governments to go back and change those laws.
Pouilly
said it has become so urgent to change the law because such countries
cannot ask the affected women not to become pregnant.
She
said such countries must make available first information and also the
possibility to stop their pregnancies if they wish so.
The
current outbreak of Zika Virus, a mosquito-bourne virus has spread
around South America. Thousands of people including pregnant women have
been infected.
Brazil is investigating the potential link between Zika infections and more than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly.
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