"At the same time, not all contemporary discussions of bodily integrity fall so obviously into the paradigm of overlapping biological and civic or national rights. Nadine Taub, for instance, begins her analysis of bodily integrity and reproduction by arguing that it is central to debates about abortion and contraception first and foremost because of “the tremendous impact pregnancy and childbearing have on a womans body.” Here, in other words, the basic issue at stake is an actually physical change (addition, subtraction, transplant, or removal) that occurs in an individuals body, and how this change might affect that individuals sense of “personhood.” Taub further links reproduction related discussions of bodily integrity to similar discussions in the realm of medical experimentation and treatment, and she concludes that “this right of bodily integrity has been clearly articulated constitutionally.” Rather than protecting the liberal notion of an intact civic relationship occurring in protected public space, therefore, bodily integrity here is protecting the broader notion of “personhood” as it is expressed in physical wholeness."
Bodily integrity is the inviolability of the physical body and emphasizes the importance of personal autonomy, self-ownership, and self-determination of human beings over their own bodies. In the field of human rights, violation of the bodily integrity of another is regarded as an unethical infringement, intrusive, and possibly criminal.
"Women’s Health. The right of women to Bodily Integrity also includes the right to health and demands woman-centred health care. Reproductive and gynaecological health services are the largest part of women’s experience within the medical establishment."
"Indeed, much of the discussion surrounding the gathering of forensic evidence prior to rape trials is implicitly an attempt to ensure that the crime (a form of torture that combines a violation of bodily integrity with an undermining of subjectivity) not be confused with the investigation (a form of not-torture that combines a violation of bodily integrity with a reinforcement of subjectivity)."
"Reproductive and Sexual Rights. Control of reproductive and sexual rights was also put forward as central to the idea of Bodily Integrity. This includes "the right to information about our bodies and the idea that that women do not have sole responsibility for contraception." Reproductive and sexual rights affirm the rights of all women—including women with disabilities and lesbians—to sexual expression and to make their own informed decisions about reproduction."
"Security of Person. The right to live in safety underscores women’s right not to be subjected to physical, sexual, or emotional violence inside or outside the home, either by private individuals or by people acting on the part of the state. Sexual harassment of women prisoners, or the use of rape as a form of torture, are examples of state-sponsored violations of Bodily Integrity. Participants in the working session highlighted the issue of strip searching by security forces in Northern Ireland as a major area of concern in this regard. It was also stated that the right to Bodily Integrity and security of person includes mental integrity, that is, freedom from mental and psychological abuse."
"Breaking Women’s Isolation. Participants in the working session also took a broader view of Bodily Integrity and Security of Person by including women’s physical isolation from services and resources as an issue under this theme."
"Scholars such as Catharine MacKinnon and Jean L. Cohen, arguing on separate sides of the US abortion-rights-as-privacy-rights debate, have likewise suggested the inherently spatial dimensions of the rhetoric surrounding bodily integrity-even if they have not effectively problematized these dimensions in the way that Scarry and Hyde have. In another context, Luise White has critiqued the neo-colonial implications “lurking behind western notions of bodily integrity,” arguing that “stories of body parts, hearts, doctors and border crossings are not only a debate about the vulnerability of African bodies, but about the vulnerability of African borders, and about the language of individual rights that protects bodies and undermines borders.” Like so many other aspects of the “global” rights rhetoric that reinforces the borders surrounding European and North American political space, in other words, the right to bodily integrity likewise produces a porous, permeable boundary around nation states int her rest of the world. The point to be made here, however, is simply that the linkage between modern notions of bodily integrity and modern notions of political space-be it the space enclosed by sovereign, national boundaries, the “public sphere,” the arena of the “private,” or colonized space constantly in flux-is one that has been developing over a number of years. Crimes against bodily integrity are about a physically defined political trespass. They involve a biological undermining of sovereign boundaries, the public sphere, or the domain of the private."