Jammu Tawi, May 27
May 28 was declared as International Day of Action for Women's Health in 1987, during a reunion of members of Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR). Recognized by the basic principle that women have a right to live healthy and make decisions about their lives without coercion, abuse and violence has been the main objective for this day. In the year ahead, this campaign will address two specific demands related to the defense of sexual and reproductive rights as universal human rights which include access to safe, legal, and an end to forced sterilization and abortion programmes. Arpana, a teacher by profession says that, women's right to enjoy comprehensive health throughout their entire life is their right. Comprehensive health includes psychological and social factors, and depends on women's status in society and their ability to access the material resources required to live with dignity, equal opportunity and freedom from violence, a life in which they can exercise their sexuality and reproduction freely and autonomously. She also said that the compounding of discrimination, violence and exclusion makes it increasingly less possible for women to enjoy their universal rights, especially the right to comprehensive health. Balwinder Kour, a home maker reveals that "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" so every women has right to live her life freely. She further added that social crises are expanding and intensifying new and old forms of violence and are increasingly threatening the human rights of large segments of the population, with a disproportionate impact on women and girls. Women have the right to have their diversity recognized and they have the right to exercise sexual and reproductive health free from illness, violence, the right to respect our bodies, the right to practice our sexuality free from untimely risks, the right to engage in sexual relations without pressure, the right to seek and feel pleasure without guilt, the right to protect ourselves from sexually transmitted infections and the right to equal participation in decision-making on health to ensure that our real and urgent demands take precedence, she adds. A youngster, Pallavi adds that, despite the challenging times, in every corner of the world people are responding together in innovative and courageous ways to claim and defend sexual and reproductive rights as universal human rights. This day calls on all women's defenders around the world to seize the opportunity for the day to publicity affirm our collective defense of the rights to provide and obtain safe, legal, accessible care and to live free from all forms of forced population control methods, including any sterilization, abortion and non coerced consent, she says.