Women’s Reproductive Health in Yemen By T.S. Sunil and Vijayan P ...

1970s (Rammohan, 2004) are among a few of such policies. In countries without coercive population control policies, population control programs often lead to ethical violations. These countries view basic human rights as less important than the goal of fertility regulation. The use of financial incentives is a good example of ethical violations in the population control metaphor. Financial incentives have been given to those who accept contraceptives who may be influenced by the payments to undergo procedures (e.g., sterilization) that they would not otherwise have chosen (Cleland & Mauldin, 1991; Sunil, Pillai, & Pandey, 1999).

In response to the previously mentioned ethical violations and coercive policies, toward the end of 1980s various international agencies—the Ford Foundation, the International Women's Health Coalition, the Population Council, and the World Health Organization (WHO)—conceptualized a “reproductive health” approach that could replace the limited, and potentially abusive, population control approach (Fathalla, 1991; Ford Foundation, 1991; Germain, 1987; Lane, 1994; WHO, 1989). According to the United Nations (1995), reproductive health is defined as the condition in which the reproductive process is accomplished in a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and is not merely the absence of disease or disorders of the reproductive process; that is, reproductive health implies that people have the ability to enjoy sexual relationships. It further implies that reproduction is carried to a successful outcome through infant and child survival, growth, and healthy development. Last, it implies that women can pass safely through pregnancy and childbirth, that fertility regulation can be achieved without health hazards, and that people are safe in having sex. In other words, reproductive health implies that people are able to have a safe and satisfying sex life and that they have the capability to