Re(al) Productive Justice are interested in talking with people with disabilities who are over 18 who have experienced difficulties on the basis of disability or a mental health diagnosis when seeking any of the following:
- fertility treatment,
- contraception,
- abortion services,
- pregnancy and childbirth services,
- surrogacy, fostering or adoption services.
Disabled people are often denied the right to make reproductive decisions, including decisions about fertility, contraception, pregnancy, childbirth and parenting. In many countries, there are specific laws criminalising sex with disabled people. There are also higher rates of sterilisation, and forced abortion among disabled women and girls than non-disabled women.
This project will explore the legal regulation and the real life experiences of disabled people in Ireland in making reproductive decisions. As part of this project, disabled people will be invited to tell their stories of making, or being denied the opportunity to make, reproductive choices for themselves.
The experiences shared in this project will be used to develop a toolkit for health and social care practitioners. This toolkit will be designed to encourage good practice in respecting the rights of disabled people to make reproductive decisions, and providing appropriate support so that they can make informed choices.
For more information, please click here.