A/HRC/23/41 73. Some States deport women migrant workers who are found to be pregnant during compulsory medical testing.154 The women concerned may also be exposed to greater vulnerability in both sending and receiving States because of the stigma attached to pregnancy outside of marriage in many societies. 155 The practice of forced contraceptive injections have been reported during pre-departure in some sending States.156 Such practices encroach upon rights to privacy, informed consent, confidentiality, dignity and nondiscrimination and act as an impediment to seeking assistance from police or health systems.157 74. Higher abortion rates among migrant workers have been linked to low awareness about and socioeconomic barriers to accessing contraception and family planning services.158 In countries which permit abortion but which prohibit migrant workers from becoming pregnant, the result is unequal access to legal reproductive health services due to apprehension of job loss and deportation, leading to risky treatment delays and unsafe abortions.159 Where abortion is criminalized, resort to unsafe abortion is also driven by the threat of criminal prosecution. 160 75. For women who carry a pregnancy to term in receiving States, difficulty accessing obstetric, pre- and post-natal and maternal health-care services and information161 may result in adverse health outcomes for both the woman and child, including premature birth, low birth weight, congenital malformation and perinatal, infant and maternal mortality. 162 In contrast, it has been found that policies promoting social integration of the migrant community reduce unfavourable pregnancy-related outcomes for migrant women. 163 Extending the 14-weeks maternity leave required under the Maternity Protection Convention or the maternity leave granted to nationals to women migrant workers164 would assist in making pregnancy-related health care and services accessible and in accordance with the right to health. IV. Conclusion and recommendations 76. The right to health approach to migrant workers fills gaps in existing frameworks that protect migrant workers and their families and bolsters protections 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 22 HRW, Singapore - Maid to Order, p. 90 (see footnote 62). Ibid., p. 93; A/64/272, para. 75. HRW, Sri Lanka/Middle East - Exported and Exposed: Abuses against Sri Lankan Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates, Vol. 19, No. 16 (C) (November 2007), p. 38. A/66/254; Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 26, para. 18. UNFPA, State of the World Population 2006, p. 37 (see footnote 153). HRW, Singapore - Maid to Order, pp. 90-91 (see footnote 62). IOM, HIV and Bangladeshi Women Migrant Workers: An assessment of vulnerabilities and gaps in services (2012), p. 39. Gail Webber and others, “Facilitators and barriers to accessing reproductive health care for migrant beer promoters in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam: A mixed methods study”, Globalization and Health, vol. 8, No. 21 (July 2012). Paola Bollini and others, “Pregnancy outcome of migrant women and integration policy: A systematic review of the international literature”, Social Science & Medicine, vol. 68, Iss. 3 (2009), p. 456; Manuel Carballo, Jose Julio Divino, Damir Zeric, “Migration and health in the European Union”, p. 938 (see footnote 104). Paola Bollini and others, “Pregnancy outcome of migrant women”, p. 456 (see footnote 163). ILO, Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183), art. 4.