title: The Holy See on sexual and reproductive health rights: conservative in position, dynamic in response.
abstract: The Holy See has engaged extensively in United Nations negotiations on issues concerning sexual and reproductive health rights as they have emerged and evolved in a dynamic global agenda over the past two decades. A meta-narrative review of the mission's official statements was conducted to examine the positions, discourses and tensions across the broad range of agendas. The Holy See represents a fundamentally conservative and stable position on a range of sexual and reproductive health rights concerns. However, the mission has been dynamic in the ways in which it has forwarded its arguments, increasingly relying upon secularised technical claims and empirical evidence; strategically interpreting human rights norms in ways consistent with its own position; and framing sexuality and reproduction in the context of "the family". Seen in the broader context of a "religious resurgence" in international relations, and in light of the fact that the Holy See has frequently sought to form alliances with conservative State and non-State actors, these findings make an important contribution to understanding the slow progress as well as the potential obstacles that lie ahead in the battle to realise sexual and reproductive health rights in a changing global political environment.
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate, School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Electronic address: amy.coates1@uq.net.au.
authors.forename: Amy L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Coates
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.affiliation: Faculty Research Fellow, Department of Politics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rushton
authors.affiliation: Lecturer in Global Health, School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Balen
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000523:psychology; D001290:Attitude; D002410:Catholicism; D005193:Family Planning Services; D006801:Humans; D011057:Politics; D060728:Reproductive Health; D046269:Reproductive Rights / Q000523:psychology; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D014480:United Nations
keywords: Holy See; United Nations; reproductive health; reproductive rights; sexual health; sexual rights