Human rights are a set of universal principles based on the
fundamental recognition that all humans are equally worthy of
respect. The principles of dignity, autonomy, equality and respect
are all drawn from the belief, most powerfully articulated in Kant’s
categorical imperative, that a person must be treated as an ends
and not a means. This imperative has particular resonance in
maternity care, when a women risks being viewed as a means for
the creation of life rather than an end in herself. Human rights
reinstate the woman as the central agent in childbirth by
demanding that her caregivers treat her as a person worthy of
respect and capable of making her own autonomous decisions
about her child’s birth.
As legal principles, enshrined in international conventions on
human rights and national human rights legislation, human rights
have practical power. In the United Kingdom, the Human Rights
Act 1998 imposes a legal obligation on professional caregivers
employed by NHS bodies to respect rights as set out in the European
Convention on Human Rights. Article 2 of the Convention
protects the right to life and requires the state to take positive
action to ensure that critical healthcare services, including
maternity care, are available to everyone. Human rights do not
stop at ensuring access to maternity services. The rights in the
Convention and under international treaties, including the Convention
on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and
the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, extend to
protecting the way in which individuals are treated by their
caregivers. These include the right not to be subjected to degrading
treatment, the right to informed consent and the right to nondiscrimination