This briefing paper discusses the international legal standards for the rights to life, health, non-discrimination and reproductive self-determination and identifies governments’ corresponding duties to ensure women’s enjoyment of those rights. It provides global illustrations of the toll that inadequate health-care delivery, pervasive discrimination and denials of reproductive decision-making take on women’s lives and health. It concludes with a brief discussion of the gap between the international community’s stated commitments to promoting maternal survival and its actions to that end thus far.