Litigating Reproductive Rights in Pakistan

This chapter is the story of a public interest litigation (PIL) strategy based on the maternal health injury of obstetric fistula in Pakistan. In 2015, lawyers and reproductive rights advocates filed a petition in the Sindh High Court to enforce the government’s obligation to uphold the right to maternal health and order the government to implement its policies and programs for the prevention and treatment of obstetric fistula. The chapter provides a background to the effective use of PIL in Pakistan and the South Asian region to enforce human rights, followed by an explanation of the rationale and steps taken to build cross-sectoral advocacy support for approaching the court. It describes the orders passed and the provincial government’s mixed response during the case’s progress in court. The chapter concludes that the case had an impact even before it was resolved because the government took a number of steps to address obstetric fistula and promote maternal health. The authors argue this was due to the increased awareness raised through the petition, the use of petitioners as powerful spokespersons, the court order to form a committee of experts to address concerns raised in the petition, and the eventual cooperation of government officials with the orders to implement its commitments to train doctors in fistula repair surgery. It concludes the key impact of the order was to hold the government accountable to its human rights obligations through improvements in service delivery and expand the recognition of fundamental rights of women and girls.