Infertility and Human Rights: A Jurisprudential Survey

Abstract

This article systematically explores the evolving human rights jurisprudence relating to infertility, a significant public health issue worldwide. There is no real question that the failure to prevent infertility, the failure to treat infertility, and the failure to recognize and respond to infertility, raise human rights concerns. But beyond the relevant human rights norms, we argue that human rights analyses can aid jurisdictions in structuring their responses to infertility. Through case studies and country-specific research, we adduce evidence that human rights norms are, in fact, already providing such guidance at the national level. The article further identifies a series of pending human rights challenges in the infertility arena – including the issue of “conditional childlessness” (also known as social infertility) – and offers suggestions for analyzing these issues.