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Committee for The Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction and Women's Health

The FIGO Committee for the Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction & Women’s Health is one of a number of dedicated Committees established to implement the priorities of FIGO.

History

The FIGO Committee for the Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction and Women's Health was established in 1985 to identify and study the important ethical problems confronting health care practitioners in human reproduction. These ethical problems were to be brought to the attention of physicians and the public in developed and developing countries and ethical guidelines provided where appropriate. The Committee is composed of a broad range of international members who represent developing and developed countries as well as having a significant interest and/or expertise in medical ethics.

This charge has assumed greater importance with the continuing world-wide challenge of ensuring that women are granted human and reproductive rights. Furthermore, the complexity of incorporating the many ethical aspects of reproductive issues in differing societies for issues such as cloning, or patenting of the human genome argue for the need for such a consensus body. There is no other body internationally that confronts these issues with a view towards the health care impact on women. Because of this, the Committee opinions are used by women's health practitioners world-wide to assist them in setting national or local standards, to expand the depth of discussion of these issues locally and to support their advocacy for improvements in the health and status of women internationally. This is a critical role and of greater need now in the face of rapid cultural and scientific change than ever before. Women are clearly vulnerable in countries where their health care rights are either non-existent or threatened and thus the Committe's guidelines can be a powerful force to support the rights of women world-wide.

Guidelines produced by the FIGO Committee for The Study of Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction & Women’s Health

The FIGO Committee for the Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction & Women's Health considers the ethical aspects of issues that impact the discipline of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health. The resulting guidelines represent the result of that carefully researched and considered discussion. This material is intended to provide material for consideration and debate about these ethical aspects of our discipline for member organisations and their constituent membership..

The Committee has issued guidelines on a number of ethical issues, which were published in collected form in November 2006 in a booklet entitled "Recommendations on Ethical Issues in Obstetrics and Gynecology by the FIGO Committee for the Study of Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction". 

The text of the booklet is available in English, Spanish and French and may be obtained by clicking on the links below:

Whole booklet

English

French

Spanish.

Please note that by clicking on the links above you will be downloading an entire section of the booklet and, as such, downloading may take some time. You will need an Adobe Acrobat reader to download this information. If you do not already have this installed in your system, click here to download the relevant software. 

Aims & Ambitions of The FIGO Committee for the Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction & Women’s Health

The aims of the Committee are:

  •  To record and study the contemporary ethical issues which emanate from research and practice in obstetrics, gynaecology, and reproductive medicine
  •   To focus on international issues
  • To recommend guidelines on ethical problems in training, education, science and the practice of obstetrics and gynaecology
  •   To bring ethical issues to the attention of FIGO member societies, physicians, and the public in developed and developing countries
  •  To address the question of FIGO’s policy towards sponsorship and relationships with industry.

In addition to the specific aims and objectives outlined, the Committee is encouraged to formulate additional proposals for the Officers and Executive Board to consider.