The need to end forced sterilisation of women with disabilities from the perspective of human rigths

Abstract

This work analyses the effectiveness of Organic Law 2/2020, whose purpose is to end non-consensual or forced sterilisation of persons with disabilities in the context of adapting and amending Spanish law to the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The law abolishes Article 156 of the Criminal Code, which provided that sterilisation authorised by a court is not punishable in the case of permanently incapacitated persons who are unable to consent. However, these types of practice will only end when it is guaranteed that women with disabilities who opt for this contraceptive method have been given access to and have given their duly informed consent.