Reproductive Rights and the Climate Crisis

On July 3, 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) published its long-awaited Advisory Opinion 32/25 (AO-32/25). The Opinion responds to a 2023 request from Colombia and Chile, asking the IACtHR to clarify the scope of States’ obligations to address the climate emergency under international human rights law. While the decision marks a significant step toward recognizing the climate crisis as a human rights issue, this blog post aims to shed light on a critical omission in the IACtHR’s reasoning: the impact of environmental degradation and the climate emergency on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

Setting the Stage: The Scope and Structure of AO-32/25

The IACtHR grouped the twenty-five questions in the request submitted by Colombia and Chile into three main categories. The first two focused on the content and scope of States’ obligations to respect, ensure, and adopt necessary measures to guarantee the effective enjoyment of a range of substantive and procedural rights enshrined in the American Convention and the Protocol of San Salvador concerning the harms caused by the climate crisis. The third category addressed specific State obligations to guarantee, without discrimination, the rights of population groups in situations of vulnerability within the context of the climate emergency.

The IACtHR acknowledged the global harms caused by climate change (para. 64), including rising temperatures, ocean warming (para. 65), ecosystem degradation, and biodiversity loss (paras. 86–87). It highlighted changing weather patterns, such as increased cyclone activity, more frequent and intense heatwaves, shifting rainfall patterns, and prolonged droughts (para. 67). In light of these impacts, the IACtHR affirmed that, under international human rights law, States are obligated to respect, ensure, and adopt measures to progressively realize rights that may be affected by the climate crisis (para. 218).

Among other contributions, the IACtHR clarified the right to a healthy environment (para. 270), recognized the autonomous right to a healthy climate (paras. 300–304), and acknowledged that nature itself may be considered a rights-holder (paras. 279–280). It also addressed the rights of present and future generations, climate-displaced persons, and environmental human rights defenders. These developments represent major strides in the IACtHR’s environmental jurisprudence. 

Gender and Climate: What the IACtHR Recognized

Importantly, AO-32/25 acknowledged on several occasions that climate change affects individuals differently based on gender. There is growing evidence that environmental degradation and climate-related events disproportionately impact individuals based on gender, due to structural inequalities in roles, resources, and power. Colombia and Chile explicitly requested the IACtHR to consider these dynamics, especially regarding women environmental defenders and groups in vulnerable situations. 

The IACtHR acknowledged that girls, adolescent girls (para. 598), and women (para. 614) are particularly vulnerable to climate impacts, which often reinforce preexisting inequalities (para. 598). This is evident in cases of climate-induced displacement (para. 420) and climate-related disasters (para. 614). The IACtHR recognized that women and girls face increased risks of gender-based violence following natural disasters (para. 614), alongside intensified caregiving responsibilities tied to traditional gender roles. These tasks, such as collecting water and ensuring food security, become more burdensome under climate stress, often forcing women and girls to walk longer distances to fetch water and or eat less, due to social norms that place them at the bottom of household hierarchies (AO-32/25, para. 614).  

The IACtHR reaffirmed that States must prevent, investigate, and punish all forms of violence against women, including those arising after climate-related disasters, and emphasized the need for gender-sensitive, intersectional climate policies (para. 614). It further stressed that States must collect and analyze data disaggregated by sex and gender to inform climate adaptation and mitigation measures (paras. 496, 511, 512). 

While another post in this symposium offers a broader examination of the IACtHR’s gender reasoning, this contribution complements that analysis by exploring how climate change affects sexual and reproductive health and rights, an issue the IACtHR did not explicitly address.

The Missing Link: Sexual and Reproductive Rights in a Changing Climate

Despite recognizing that climate change manifests in extreme weather events (para. 67) and that these events may pose risks to life and health (paras. 396–397), the IACtHR did not specifically consider how such events affect reproductive health. It omitted relevant scientific evidence, failed to connect these harms to rights protected under the American Convention or the Protocol of San Salvador, and overlooked its own jurisprudence on maternal health (e.g. Brítez Arce et al. v. Argentina, Manuela et al. v. El Salvador, AO-29/22, Artavia Murillo (“In Vitro Fertilization”) v. Costa Rica), as well as international standards. This gap is particularly notable given that several amici curiae explicitly raised the issue, urging the IACtHR to recognize how climate-related harms compromise the enjoyment of reproductive rights.

Climate-related health threats deepen existing gender inequalities, especially for those already facing systemic barriers to care. For instance, women displaced often struggle to access sexual and reproductive healthcare services that are disrupted by climate emergencies. They also experience higher rates of sexual and gender-based violence, increasing their need for these reproductive services. Indigenous women often carry some of the heaviest burdens of climate change. This extends to reproductive harm, with some studies finding that Indigenous women exposed to environmental damage have higher rates of chronic reproductive issues, such as miscarriage and gynecological cancers.

What the Science Tells Us: The Climate Impacts on Maternal Health

Multiple studies and expert bodies, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), have highlighted that climate change poses gender-specific vulnerabilities and significant risks for pregnant people (p. 1051). These harms may arise from direct exposure to extreme weather events – such as heatwaves, droughts, hurricanes, and floods – or from disruptions in health systems, mobility, infrastructure, and access to services.

Extreme Heat and Obstetric Risks

Heatwaves, defined as extended periods of abnormally high temperatures in a specific location, have become increasingly frequent, intense, and prolonged due to climate change. Exposure to excessive heat compromises the body’s ability to regulate temperature, posing serious risks during pregnancy. The metabolic demands of pregnancy elevate body temperature, reducing the ability to dissipate heat effectively, and increasing vulnerability to cardiovascular, respiratory, cerebrovascular, and diabetic conditions or disorders.

Extreme heat also heightens the risk of pregnancy complications and adverse outcomes, including preterm birth, stillbirth, and low birth weight. Early pregnancy exposure to extreme heat may increase the risk of pregnancy loss. Heat stress can also trigger inflammation, potentially leading to early labor.

During heatwaves, pregnant people face higher risks of hospitalization and cardiovascular complications, including strokes, myocardial infarction, gestational diabetes, and preeclampsia. Other studies have found that the risk of obstetric complications increases by 1.25 times when labor occurs during a heatwave.

Floods and Their Reproductive Consequences

Flooding, intensified by climate change, restricts the ability of systems and populations to prepare for emergencies and disrupts access to healthcare facilities, services, and essential medications like contraception. Pregnant people exposed to flooding face a higher risk of pregnancy loss compared to those not exposed. Floods also increase the risk of waterborne diseases, such as cholera, and vector-borne diseases, like malaria and dengue. These infections greatly affect maternal, fetal, and neonatal outcomes, including early delivery, low birth weight, and death. In coastal areas, pregnant people may face hypertension and eclampsia as the salinity in drinking water increases. Finally, floods may impact the mental well-being of pregnant patients, with studies and human rights reports concluding that traumatic experiences during pregnancy increase the risk for post-disaster depression and anxiety.

Wildfires, Air Pollution, and Maternal Health

The climate crisis also increases the frequency and intensity of wildfires, exposing pregnant people to polluted air, direct physical injury, mental health impacts, and disrupted medical services and healthcare infrastructure. Studies show that exposure to high levels of air pollutants during pregnancy increases the risk of maternal hypertensive disorders, postpartum depression, placental abruption, low birth weight, preterm birth, infant mortality, and adverse respiratory outcomes in newborns. In addition, residing in wildfire-affected areas has been associated with poor mental health, including elevated rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, factors that can adversely impact maternal health and fetal development. 

Moreover, wildfires can disrupt prenatal care and birth plans, often depriving pregnant people of their ability to decide the conditions and manner in which they wish to give birth. In many cases, urgent medical services or postpartum care cannot be provided, putting the health of pregnant individuals and their newborns at serious risk.

Applying Legal Standards: What the IACtHR Could Have Done

Building on this scientific recognition, the IACtHR could have expanded existing international standards on reproductive health and applied them in the context of climate change. Specifically, the IACtHR should have (i) recognized the specific impact of climate change on reproductive health, (ii) emphasized the obligation of States to guarantee access to reproductive services and information during climate-related disasters, and (iii) required the collection of more data on the connection between climate change and reproductive harms.

Climate Change Impacts on Reproductive Health

The IACtHR could have explicitly outlined how climate change restricts people’s ability to exercise their reproductive rights, and determined it is essential for States to protect reproductive rights in their efforts to combat climate change. In its jurisprudence, the IACtHR has affirmed that sexual and reproductive health and rights are part of the right to health (I.V. v. Bolivia, para. 157; Manuela v. El Salvador, para. 310; and CESCR, para. 1), closely tied to other rights like autonomy, reproductive freedom, and the right to live a life free from violence. This set of rights includes access to reproductive services and information, as well as the ability to decide freely on the number and spacing of children (I.V. V. Bolivia, para. 157). In AO-32/25, the IACtHR could have tied climate disasters to the restriction of reproductive autonomy, for example by pointing to the ways in which such disasters impede access to contraception, emergency obstetric aid, childbirth and postpartum care, and other healthcare services. And therefore, affecting the rights to life, personal integrity, health, personal liberty, privacy, and protection of the family, as well as the right to equality and non-discrimination. 

Obligations to Guarantee Access to Reproductive Services and Information during Climate-Related Disasters

International human rights law affirms that the right to health encompasses the underlying social determinants of health, such as a safe and healthy environment, access to clean and safe water, adequate food and nutrition, and health-related education and information (CESCR, para. 7). The IACtHR could have expanded on this framework by linking climate-induced disruptions, such as water scarcity and food insecurity, to unique dangers to the health of pregnant women and girls. 

Additionally, according to international human rights standards, health facilities, goods, information, and services related to sexual and reproductive care should be available, accessible, acceptable, and of good quality (CESCR, para. 12; CESCR, paras. 12-21), even during climate-related emergencies (CEDAW). The CEDAW Committee has further stressed that States must prioritize sexual and reproductive health services and information in disaster preparedness and response plans (para. 68), and integrate them into adaptation and mitigation strategies (para. 14). The IACtHR could have drawn on these findings to underscore how climate change exacerbates violations of sexual and reproductive health and rights and emphasized States’ duties to prioritize and adapt reproductive health services to climate-related scenarios. This includes ensuring physical accessibility and access to information during natural disasters, as well as general information on how climate events affect sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Data on the Connection Between Climate Change and Reproductive Harms

Finally, in addressing the third question of AO-32/25 regarding State obligations to guarantee the rights of vulnerable groups without discrimination, the IACtHR should have explicitly acknowledged the disproportionate impact of climate change on reproductive, maternal, and neonatal health, by referencing existing research and evidence on these harms. The IACtHR had precedent to build on: in Inhabitants of La Oroya v. Peru (paras. 190, 206), it identified the harms of lead exposure during pregnancy. Drawing a similar link to other climate-related harms, such as extreme heat, air pollution, or floods, would have marked a significant step forward in protecting reproductive rights. Additionally, to identify which impacts need to be addressed and mitigated, it is essential to collect independent, disaggregated data on the harms of climate change on reproductive health. Thus, the IACtHR should have called on States to invest and collect data that showcases how climate change may affect reproductive health to guide effective and rights-based responses. 

Conclusions: Looking Ahead

Extreme heat, wildfires, and floods are only a few examples of extreme weather and natural disasters that can harm reproductive and sexual health. As the intensity and frequency of these disasters increase due to climate change, so too will their impacts on reproductive autonomy, maternal health, and access to essential services.

The protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights has long been a legal obligation for States. In the face of the climate crisis, this obligation requires explicit recognition. Without it, legal and policy responses risk perpetuating the very inequalities they are meant to dismantle. Although the AO-32/25 falls short in addressing the specific risks that climate change poses to sexual and reproductive health, it provides a foundation that can be built upon. The IACtHR’s acknowledgment of gender-differentiated harms and its recognition of States’ obligations to protect vulnerable populations, along with its emphasis on the rights to life, integrity, and health, provide critical entry points for future litigation and advocacy. Even without an explicit reference to reproductive justice, AO-32/25 creates a legal opening for making this connection visible and enforceable.