Is Having Sex With Your Partner A Fundamental Human Right?

This question raises many interesting issues for debate which is what happened within a recent Court of Protection case when Mr Justice Hayden commented “it is a fundamental human right of a man to have sex with his wife”.

This particular case relates to a married couple who have been together for 20 years, the court was being asked to consider preventing the husband from having sex with his wife, as she may no longer be able to give her consent.

The matter was bought to the attention of the court by social services who were concerned the wife didn’t have capacity to consent to having sex.

The Judge wanted to be able to consider and examine all the evidence in detail before accepting an undertaking from the husband not to have sex with his wife, as the judge commented the husband has a right to have the matter properly argued. He further commented that such an order or undertaking would be difficult to police and could result in the husband facing prison if found to be in breach.

This particular matter has been set down for a full hearing within the next few months. However, it raises many interesting issues about the intervention of social services within married couples and where the line should be drawn as opposed to protecting vulnerable people who are not able to protect themselves.

This article was found from The Guardian Newspaper (link: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/apr/03/english-judge-says-man-having-sex-with-wife-is-fundamental-human-right).