Case introduction of women's reproductive and non-reproductive rights
The facts of a legal case
Ye X (male) and Zhu X (female) are married. On July 5, 2006, Zhu X went to the hospital to abort the fetus without Ye X's consent. Ye X believed that Zhu X's behavior violated his reproductive rights, and filed a lawsuit in Yuyao People's Court, Zhejiang Province, demanding that Zhu X apologize and pay mental damage compensation 20,000 yuan. Zhu X claimed that the abortion was due to a long-term emotional disagreement with Ye X, which made him lose confidence in Ye X, so he requested to reject Ye X's application.
Women have the right to have children and not to have children.
Referee points
Both male and female citizens enjoy the corresponding reproductive rights. When there is a conflict between husband and wife on reproductive rights, men should not demand women's rights against their will.
case analysis
First, do men have reproductive rights?
Paragraph 2 of Article 33 of our Constitution stipulates that "China people and China citizens are all equal before the law", and Article 9 of the Marriage Law also stipulates that "husband and wife have equal status in the family". Therefore, men also have the right to have children.
As a natural right, the reproductive right is a basic human right of citizens, which is subordinate to the personal rights of citizens. For men, from the perspective of equality between men and women and equality before the law, men and women enjoy the same reproductive rights. In this case, the plaintiff Ye X, as an adult male, naturally enjoys the established reproductive rights, which are equal to those enjoyed by his wife.
Second, the conflict between male reproductive rights and female reproductive rights and its solution
From the realization of male reproductive rights and social reality, when the two sides have differences on this point, they should protect the personal rights and interests of vulnerable women more. The reason for this is the following：
First, the conditions for realizing the reproductive rights of men and women are different. For women, the realization of reproductive rights lies in their own personal rights, while for men, the realization of legal reproductive rights first depends on the realization of legal spouse rights, and men can only obtain the protection of reproductive rights on the basis of the realization of spouse rights. Any male chauvinism against women's will is an illegal act that violates women's human rights.
For example, if the man insists on having children and the woman doesn't want children, if the man has the final say, it means that the husband has coercive power over his wife's body and will, which will be at the expense of the woman's personal freedom and physical and mental destruction. Giving the decision-making power to the woman may have wronged the man to some extent, but the worst result is that the two parties divorce and the man can re-choose other opposite sex who are willing to have children. There is no doubt that the former may lead to much more serious consequences than the latter.
Second, fertility is not the inevitable result of marriage, and women are not fertility tools. Since citizens have the right to bear children, they should also enjoy the freedom of not bearing children. The wife's independent abortion is a punishment for the body and a free choice of "not having children". Marriage itself does not mean that both parties must have children. If the husband and wife have not reached an agreement on "having children", then the wife's independent contraception or abortion does not constitute an infringement on her husband.
Husband and wife have the right to have children, which is aimed at the society, that is, the right of husband and wife to fight against a third person to eliminate external obstacles and violations.
Third, women not only perform more obligations in caring for and raising children, but also are irreplaceable by men in pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, and women bear the hardships and risks alone.
Therefore, empowering women is not only the humanistic care and special protection for women as the main body of fertility, but also the embodiment of legal justice. Exaggerating or emphasizing men's reproductive decision-making power will undoubtedly bring negative effects, such as unfair accusations and opinions on women's spontaneous abortion, which will legalize "marital rape" to some extent.
In short, husband and wife enjoy equal reproductive rights, and wives enjoy the same reproductive rights as husbands. However, when two kinds of equal rights conflict, they must be exercised successively. No matter from what angle, women's rights and interests should be protected first.
Case results
After hearing the case, Yuyao City Court of Zhejiang Province held that Article 51 of the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests clearly stipulates that women have the right to have children and the freedom not to have children. Therefore, the defendant's abortion operation on the intrauterine fetus does not constitute damage to the plaintiff's reproductive rights. The plaintiff's reproductive rights based on the right of spouse can still be realized. Therefore, the judgment rejected the plaintiff Ye X's claim.
Related reading:
The right content of reproductive rights
Reproductive right refers to the right of citizens to have children and to obtain relevant information and services. Includes the following parts:
Reproductive freedom
The right to decide freely and responsibly the time, number and interval of childbearing.
The right to decide freely whether to have children. Citizens have the right to have children and the freedom not to have children. Citizens have the right to choose whether to have children or not, and not having children should not be discriminated against.
Men and women enjoy equal rights in reproductive issues. That is, the realization of one party's reproductive rights must not interfere with the other party's reproductive rights.
Theoretically speaking, reproduction is the behavior of both men and women, which cannot be achieved unilaterally. Therefore, the realization of this right should be based on consultation between the two sides, and only the will of two people can be realized.
reproductive health
Reproductive health means that people can have a satisfactory and safe sex life, can have children, and can freely decide whether to have children, when to have children and how many to have. Citizens have the right to obtain scientific knowledge and information, the right to know contraceptive measures and safety, and the right to consult and treat infertile citizens. Family planning technical service personnel shall guide citizens who practice family planning to choose safe, effective and appropriate contraceptive measures.
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