Reproductive and transgender rights are at Risk in the United States of America

New data released in June give insight into human rights violations against LQBTQIA+ people and women and girls in the United States. The new findings identify several areas where transgender and reproductive rights are at risk in the United States.

The frequent identification of LGBTQIA+ people and women and/or girls in these new data gives insight into the negative impact of anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation and policies and the regression of reproductive rights in the United States.

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) released data based on expertise shared by human rights experts operating in over 30 countries. In the United States, experts identified women, girls, and LGBTQIA+ people as being especially vulnerable to having their rights violated.

In the United States, 86% of experts identified women and/or girls and 71% identified LGBTQIA+ people as being particularly at risk of having their right to health violated. Specifically, experts noted that women, especially those seeking reproductive healthcare, were at risk.

Regarding the right to opinion and expression, respondents identified LGBTQIA+ people, women, and girls as being especially vulnerable. Experts said that LGBTQIA+ people, in particular transgender people, teachers, and librarians in Florida, Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and other Southern states, doctors in Texas and Oklahoma, and students and children, especially those wanting to discuss sexual orientation and gender identity at schools in Florida were all at risk of having their right to opinion and expression violated.

Experts in the United States have also identified women, girls, and LGBTQIA+ people as being especially vulnerable to having a wide range of rights violated, including the rights to education, food, housing, and work, as well as the right to assembly and association and freedom from torture and ill-treatment.

Amanda Klasing, Human Rights Measurement Initiative Ambassador focused on the United States and National Director of Government Relations and Advocacy for Amnesty International-USA, responded to HRMI's new data, saying, "This latest human rights reporting from HRMI should give the Biden administration a wake-up call to the extent of human rights risks facing people in the United States. The Biden administration can't advance its purported commitment to a human rights-centred foreign policy, when it isn't doing the same at home."

HRMI co-founder Dr K Chad Clay said, "Compared to previous years, we see a large increase in the proportion of our respondents stating that LGBTQIA+ people, women, and girls are at high risk of lacking full enjoyment of their rights to health in the United States. This is sadly not surprising in light of many changes in US policy over the last couple of years. Several states targeted transgender people with laws restricting access to gender-affirming healthcare in 2022, and this trend has sadly continued and intensified in 2023. Likewise, in June 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed pregnant people the right to abortion. Several US states followed this decision by implementing bans and restrictions on abortion, jeopardising the full enjoyment of the right to health by many women, girls, and other people who can become pregnant across the country."

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About the Rights Tracker: The Rights Tracker is a global project to track the human rights performance of countries systematically. Our 2023 dataset launched today includes annual data on eight civil and political rights for up to 44 countries from the years 2017 to 2022, with Bangladesh, Thailand, and the Maldives added this year. Our data also include inaugural scores on the right to freedom of religion and belief in a pilot set of nine countries. Annual data on five economic and social rights for 196 countries from 2007 to 2020, based on the award-winning SERF Index methodology, is also available. Please visit rightstracker.org for the freely available dataset.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Thalia Kehoe Rowden
Strategy and Communication Lead, and Global Spokesperson:
thalia.kehoerowden@hrmi.ngo

Human Rights Measurement Initiative
PO Box 24390
Wellington, New Zealand 6011
Thalia Kehoe Rowden thalia.kehoerowden@hrmi.ngo

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) is an independent non-profit organisation part of a global movement building a world where all people can flourish. We track the human rights progress of countries, producing robust data that anyone can use to push for improvements in how governments treat people. What gets measured gets improved: if something isn't being systematically measured, it can be more easily overlooked and undervalued. HRMI data make it easier for decision-makers to monitor their progress, and prioritise human rights. Advocacy based on sound information is one of the key drivers of change. www.humanrightsmeasurement.org

This release was published on openPR.