EIT:n suuri jaosto: Kotisynnytysmahdollisuuden vaikeuttaminen ei loukannut EIS 8 artiklaa

Euroopan ihmisoikeustuomioistuimen (EIT) suuri jaosto on tuoreessa ratkaisussaan arvioinut Tsekissä voimassa ollutta lainsäädäntöä, joka teki käytännössä mahdottomaksi saada kätilön palveluita kotona tapahtuvassa synnytyksessä. Äänin 12-5 EIT päätyi siihen – huomioon ottaen valtion laaja harkintamarginaali tämänkaltaisissa asioissa – että menettely ei loukannut valittajien oikeutta yksityiselämän suojaan.

EIT:n lehdistötiedotteesta:

In [a] Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Dubská and Krejzová v. the Czech Republic (application nos. 28859/11 and 28473/12) the European Court of Human Rights held, by twelve votes to five votes, that there had been:

no violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case concerned a law in the Czech Republic which made it impossible in practice for mothers to be assisted by a midwife during home births. The applicants, two women who wished to avoid unnecessary medical intervention in delivering their babies, complained that because of this law they had had no choice but to give birth in a hospital if they wished to be assisted by a midwife.

The Court found in particular that the national authorities had considerable room for manoeuvre when regulating the question of home births, a matter for which there is no European consensus and which involves complex issues of health-care policy as well as allocation of State resources. It concluded that the State’s current policy struck a fair balance between, on the one hand, mothers’ right to respect for their private life and, on the other, the State’s interest in protecting the health and safety of the child and mother during and after delivery. Moreover, since 2014 the Government have taken some initiatives with a view to improving the situation in local maternity hospitals, notably by setting up a new governmental expert committee on obstetrics, midwifery and related women’s rights. The Court invited the Czech authorities to make further progress by continuing their constant review of the relevant legal provisions on home births, making sure that they reflect medical and scientific developments whilst fully respecting women’s rights in the field of reproductive rights.

Lehdistötiedote kokonaisuudessaan, missä myös linkki koko tuomioon, löytyy täältä: Press release

Faktalehtinen EIT:n käytännöstä lisääntymistä koskevista oikeuksista löytyy täältä: Factsheet: Reproductive Rights