ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Islamic Views On Human Rights: Viewpoints of Iranian Scholars Reproductive Health And Rights Susan Pasgar Over the recent years, reproductive health and rights have been the subject of conferences and assemblies relevant to population, development and rights of women at national and international level.

Although women have been taken into consideration due to their physiological structure in reproduction, their needs and desires have been accorded little or no attention. Women’s spiritual and physical health and social welfare play an essential role in reproduction. The neglect of women's reproductive health and rights and lack of suitable healthcare possibilities have resulted in the diseases of women and children and their sudden deaths.

The current statistics suggest that at least 500,000 women lose their lives every year due to the diseases resulting from pregnancy and 99 percent of these victims are living in the developing countries.[^1] In developing countries, the rate of death of the women who have had a healthy life during childhood increases as they approach the reproductive age.

The danger of the death of women is reported to be 80 to 800 times bigger than a similar case in developed countries.[^2] In most societies, sterility is looked upon with contempt; even when sterility is on the part of men, the idea of sterility is most cruelly directed towards women. In the world today, the right to life, which is among the most fundamental human rights, should not be violated because of the incurable diseases or sudden deaths.

The calamities resulting from sterility can be reduced to minimum with proper knowledge and recognition and suitable healthcare possibilities. Not only are the reproductive health and rights a new issue but they are also a controversial issue in national and international conferences due to the fact that they are closely associated with the most personal aspects of human life and the status of women in different spheres of family and social activities.

This article is an attempt to investigate the concept of reproductive health and rights as a component of women’s rights, the perfection of this concept and the different aspects of this concept from an Islamic viewpoint. The article grows out of the writer’s interest in women’s rights especially in developing countries. Attempts have been made to come to a desirable conclusion regarding the recognition of the social needs, and necessities.