Book Reviews Packer, Corinne, A. A. The Right to Reproductive Choice: A Study in International Law. Turku, Abo: Abo Akademi University, Institute for Human Rights, 1996. Pp. x, 213. The abundance of literature dealing with reproductive rights issues bears witness to the considerable importance of the subject. Given that it is linked with issues relating to women, equality and public health, but also to the most intimate and emotional spheres of human life, an appropriate treatment has become a complex task. The author gives a very limpid overview, covering different aspects of the topic in seven chapters. Starting with the definition, understanding and sources of the right to reproductive choice, the author goes through its scope and the possibilities for full realization to show by what means respect of this right should be secured. The study is completed by a number of useful and easy to consult tables and appendices. Although the author does consider sources that are not legally binding, she clearly prefers to base her analysis and reflections on human rights treaties that are binding for parties, e.g. the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the European Convention on Human Rights, the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Women's Convention) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In principle, one cannot take issue with this approach. However, it occasionally leads the author to regrettable conclusions. Such is the case, for instance, when she excludes infertility treatment from the scope of the right to reproductive choice, stating somewhat surprisingly that obliging states to make medically-assisted procreation methods available would be similar to obliging states to make supersonic jet planes available to enable freedom of movement (at 48). It is this reviewer's opinion that this is contrary to the definition of health given in the Constitution of the World Health Organization, according to which `[h]ealth is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being...' The argument that the treatment of infertility is more recent than the UNHDR (1984), the ICCPR (1966) or the Women's Convention (1979) and is thus not included in the right to found a family (at 46-47) seems to be difficult to sustain if one bears in mind the tendency of newer - even if not legally binding - international texts (e.g. the Cairo Conference Programme of Action). Similarly, in the chapter on abortion, the author maintains that existing international instruments are vague and unhelpful, and that international resolutions from the 1960s remain silent on the issue (at 73). To our knowledge, there is at least one text, Resolution 75(29) on legislation relating to fertility and family planning, of the Committee of Ministers, Council of Europe, which recommends: `[t]o ensure that all legal abortions are carried out under the best possible medical conditions' (Article D.2.). In our view, this should also cover the abortion pill RU-486 and, in spite of all controversy, it should be made available by governments in their efforts to make health care accessible to all. One cannot but agree with the author when she states that the protections offered by treaties depend on what people are willing to make of them. This volume has the merit of showing very systematically the existence of international legal instruments which ensure protection of at least some of the components of the right to reproductive choice. Let us hope that human rights advocates and policy-makers, for whom this book is intended to serve as a resource, will know how to find in them a broader understanding of the existing provisions. Jarmila Looks Swiss Institute of Comparative Law
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