What are my Reproductive and Sexual Rights?
In Canada, you have the right to make decisions about your body. You have the right to:
- Decide whether to have children, when to have children, and how many children to have.
- Choose a birth control method that is right for you.
- Receive non-judgemental and unbiased sexual and reproductive health care services.
- Receive information about sexual and reproductive health.
- Choose your sexual partner(s).
- Decide when to have sex or not.
- Choose to not marry, or if you choose to marry you can chose who that is with.
- Protect yourself and your partner(s) from sexually transmitted infections/HIV.
- Choose your health care provider.
What are my rights when seeing a doctor?
It’s important to feel comfortable with your health care provider. You have the right to:
- Be treated with respect.
- Ask questions and get answers that you understand.
- Have someone with you for the whole appointment, if you want, including the physical exam.
- Make decisions about your health care without anyone else knowing about it.
- Change health care providers.
What can I do if I don’t want to have children (get pregnant) now?
- If you decide not to have children:
- You can decide not to have penis-vagina sex.
- You can decide to have penis-vagina sex and use birth control.
Where can I get more information?
- From your health care provider, community health clinic, or public health nurse.
- From the Facts of Life On-Line: e-mail your questions to thefactsoflife@serc.mb.ca.
- From SERC’s website: www.serc.mb.ca.
- Under 22 teen clinics.
Glossary:
Birth Control – The different ways of preventing pregnancy
Developed in collaboration with Klinic Community Health and Literacy Partners of Manitoba 2007
Sexuality Education Resource Centre 2016