Human Rights and Maternal Health: Exploring the Effectiveness of the Alyne Decision

Congratulations to Professor Rebecca J. Cook, Co-Director of our International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program at University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law.   Her useful article about an important CEDAW decision on preventable maternal death was recently published in the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 41.1 (2013): 103-23.

Human Rights and Maternal Health:
Exploring the Effectiveness of the Alyne decision

 This article explores the effectiveness of the decision of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in the case of Alyne da Silva Pimentel Teixeira (deceased) v. Brazil, concerning a poor, Afro-Brazilian woman. This is the first decision of an international human rights treaty body to hold a state accountable for its failure to prevent an avoidable death in childbirth. Assessing the future effectiveness of this decision might be undertaken concretely by determining the degree of Brazil’s actual compliance with the Committee’s recommendations, and how this decision influences pending domestic litigation arising from the maternal death. Alternative approaches include: determining whether, over time, the decision leads to the elimination of discrimination against women of poor, minority racial status in the health sector, and if it narrows the wide gap between rates of maternal mortality of poor, Afro-Brazilian women and the country’s general female population. Determining the effectiveness of this decision will guide whether to pursue a more general strategy of judicializing maternal mortality.

Academic subscribers can access the full text of the article
through this link.

A Portuguese translation is forthcoming in the Revista de Direito do Estado.

Decisions, Events, Fellowships, Resources, News & Jobs

REPROHEALTHLAW
May 14, 2013

DECISIONS

European Court of Human Rights:  Valiuliene v. Lithuania.    State held liable for failure to investigate effectively into complaints of domestic violence.  Decision online.
 Women’s Lobby Report online.

India:  Voluntary Health Association of Punjab v Union of India & Ors  [2013] INSC 289
Supreme Court, 4 March 2013.  stricter rules to regulate pre-conception and prenatal diagnosis to enforce 1994 prohibition on sex selection.  Decision online

Scotland, UK:   Petition  of Mary Teresa Doogan and Concepta Wood for Judicial Review of a decision of Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board.  Midwives in administrative capacity allowed conscientious refusal to supervise staff who perform abortions.  Decision online. 
   —”Catholic midwives win landmark legal battle over objection to abortions” News report
   —“When Health-Care Providers Refuse Care, Whose Rights Are at Stake?” Comment by Marianne Møllmann, Amnesty International
   —”Conscientious Objection in Scotland:  A Worrying Precedent”  Comment by Louise Finer, Reproductive Health Matters.

EDUCATIONAL EVENTS
Third Latin American Legal Congress on Reproductive Rights, Cuernavaca, Morelos – Mexico, October 14-16, 2013. 
Congress details.

“Monitoring the Implementation of CEDAW toward Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights” ASIL-AU Continuing Legal Education Institutes, 3-part course series on Human Rights.    Part 1 of 3 features speakers Rebecca Cook, Sarah Craven and Cristina Finch.
May 29, 2013, Washington DC   Course event information. 

FELLOWSHIPS
Fellowship  (for law graduates), Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell Law School, Itaca, NY, USA, Apply by May 24, 2013.  Cornell Fellowship Information.

Health Equity – Summer Fellowship:  Women’s College Hospital Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care, Toronto, Canada, 2 month fellowship with $5000 stipend,  “Justice in Healthcare” is one of the proposal topics sought, Project proposals due May 24, 2013.  Health Equity Fellowship

RESOURCES:

[abortion] Remaking the case for a woman’s right to choose, by Ann Furedi, reprinted in bpas Reproductive Review, April 26, 2013. 
Article online.

[abortion, Ecuador]  The Struggle for Abortion Rights in Ecuador, by Heather Sayette, IPPF.   Online  article.

Bioethics Training Curriculum from FIGO - includes basic principles and 25 case studies in Reproductive Health, can be used freely to train healthcare personnel.  Download from FIGO 

[emergency contraception] European Consortium for Emergency Contraception – New website. 

Infanticide & “after birth” abortion, special issue of Journal of Medical Ethics 39.5 (May 2013)  Journal of Medical Ethics issue

“Human Rights and Maternal Health: Exploring the Effectiveness of the Alyne decision” by Rebecca J. Cook, Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 41.1 (2013): 103-23.  Article online through academic libraries.  Portuguese translation forthcoming in Revista de Direito Estados.

[human rights] “Applying Human Rights to Maternal Health: UN Technical Guidance on Rights-Based Approaches,” by Alicia Ely Yamin, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 121 (2013) 190–193. Article and abstract online.

Maternal Mortality, Human Rights and Accountability (new book) ed. Paul Hunt and Tony Gray.  Book information online.

[Mexico] Omisión e Indiferencia:  Derechos Reproductivos en México – detailed analysis of the advances, unfulfilled debts and setbacks to reproductive rights in Mexico. 2007-2013.  English translation forthcoming.   Report in Spanish online.

“Movement Litigation and Unilateral Disarmament,” by Richard S. Price and Thomas Keck, [Using two US right-to-life litigation case studies, this article disputes the common assumption that reproductive rights advocates refrain from litigation, confining themselves to legislative approaches.] Working paper online.

[Nigeria] “Legal Right to Maternal Health in Nigeria – Why Not?” by Aniaka Angel-Jacinta Oluchi.   Working Paper online.

[U.S.] Equality Arguments for Abortion Rights , by Neil Siegel & Reva B. Siegel,  UCLA Law Review Discourse, Vol. 60, 2013.   Article online.  

NEWS:

Argentina:  Doctors are under investigation for refusing to perform a legal abortion procedure during life-threatening pregnancy in 2011.  Woman lost physical mobility by carrying pregnancy to term.  Spanish news article. 

Canada: Alberta halts program for low-cost birth control. Regulatory concerns force halt to program.   News article.

Ecuador guarantees right to free emergency contraception. 
News article.

El Salvador: Beatriz case — woman with anencephalic fetus is being denied life saving medical intervention. 
Appeal from Amnesty International
   —[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights] “Human Rights Bodies  Call on El Salvador to Provide Life-Saving Abortion. 
Report in blog article. 

India:  Time limit of abortions raised to 63 days (9 weeks), formerly 7 weeks. News report.

India Rape Law:  Parliament passes strict sexual violence legislation.”  News report.

Irish government puts forward draft abortion bill, includes suicide.  News report.   Catholic Church dissent.

Malawi: Gender Equality Bill -Section 19(1) gives “every person a right whether or not to have a child” and complies with CEDAW.   Minister of Gender’s Statement to UN Commission on the Status of Women, session 57.    Church dissent.

Malawi:  Domestic Violence Bill signed by President.  News report.

Mexico:   Supreme Court Invalidates Queretaro constitutional article that “recognizes, protects and guarantees the right to life of every human being from the moment of fertilization.”(April 29, 2013). 
English news article.     Spanish news article. 

Uruguay legalizes same-sex marriage. 
News report.   Amnesty comment. 

US-focused news, resources, and legal developments are available on Repro Rights Prof Blog.  View or subscribe here.

JOBS
Legal Adviser for Europe & Global Advocacy Programs (based in
Geneva),  The Center for Reproductive Rights,  Geneva, Switzerland.  Apply by May 29, 2013.  Job details.   

Program Associate – Women’s Rights and Reproductive Rights,  Wellspring Advisors, LLC.  New York, NY, USA.  Apply by  May 17, 2013.    Job details. 

Links to other employers in the field of Reproductive and Sexual Health Law are online here.

Compiled by the Coordinator of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca For Program publications and resources, see our website, online here.    

TO JOIN THIS BLOG:  enter your email address in upper right corner of this webpage, then  check your email to confirm the subscription.

Applying Human Rights to Maternal Health: UN Technical Guidance on Rights-Based Approaches

Congratulations to Professor Alicia Ely Yamin,  Director of the Program on Health Rights of Women and Children at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, whose useful article was recently published in the Ethical and Legal Issues section of the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics:

Applying Human Rights to Maternal Health: UN Technical Guidance on Rights-Based Approaches

Abstract:  In the last few years there have been several critical milestones in acknowledging the centrality of human rights to sustainably addressing the scourge of maternal death and morbidity around the world, including from the United Nations Human Rights Council. In 2012, the Council adopted a resolution welcoming a Technical Guidance on rights-based approaches to maternal mortality and morbidity, and calling for a report on its implementation in 2 years. The present paper provides an overview of the contents and significance of the Guidance. It reviews how the Guidance can assist policymakers in improving women’s health and their enjoyment of rights by setting out the implications of adopting a human rights-based approach at each step of the policy cycle, from planning and budgeting, to ensuring implementation, to monitoring and evaluation, to fostering accountability mechanisms. The Guidance should also prove useful to clinicians in understanding rights frameworks as applied to maternal health.

Keywords: Accountability, Health policy, Human rights, Maternal health, Maternal mortality and morbidity, Sexual and reproductive health, UN Technical guidance – maternal health

The entire paper can be downloaded here. 

The UN’s Technical Guidance document, discussed in this article, is online in six languages through this webpage, at A/HRC/21/22.

UN anti-torture rapporteur denounces RSH violations

Congratulations to Christina Zampas, who recently became a Fellow of our International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, working on issues concerning the intersection of reproductive rights and the exercise of religion.   We thank her for reviewing this new UN report and summarizing its contributions to the realization of reproductive rights.    

New UN Report:  sexual and reproductive rights violations may amount to torture

On February 1, 2013, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez, issued a report focusing on forms of abuses in health-care settings that may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.  The first UN report of its kind, it addresses issues concerning the mistreatment of various vulnerable groups and identifies measures that states can take to prevent such mistreatment. It covers numerous sexual and reproductive rights violations, including some that have not been fully addressed before by the UN human rights system. 

This report joins a growing number of international human rights mechanisms that are using International Federation for Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) and other health professional guidelines to develop groundbreaking human rights standards.  For instance, the Rapporteur relied on FIGO’s new guidelines on sterilization to find that sterilization can never be medically justified on therapeutic grounds and may constitute torture or ill treatment. The report addresses the pervasive practice of involuntary sterilization of women with disabilities and the mistreatment of “intersex” children (born with atypical sex characteristics) who are subjected to medically unnecessary and involuntary sex assignment, sterilization and/or genital-normalizing surgery, in an attempt to “fix their sex.”  Such forced or coerced practices often occur through third-party authorization or substitute decision-making. The Rapporteur calls on states to repeal laws allowing such involuntary “treatments” and to outlaw forced and coerced sterilization under all circumstances.

The report reinforces human rights standards which recognize that the abuse and mistreatment of women seeking reproductive health services, especially abortion, can cause tremendous and lasting physical and emotional suffering, inflicted on the basis of gender. For example, the Rapporteur joins the European Court of Human Rights in recognizing the denial of information concerning one’s pregnancy as a violation of human rights. The case at the European Court of Human Rights, RR v Poland, found a violation of the right to be free from inhuman and degrading treatment when a pregnant woman was intentionally denied access to a prenatal test in order to prevent her from undergoing an abortion.   

The report failed, however, to address the full range of reproductive rights violations women experience, including the pervasive practice of denying women access to emergency contraception after unprotected sex, even in cases of rape.  Last year the UN Committee Against Torture, which monitors state compliance with the Convention Against Torture, articulated this denial as a form of cruel and inhuman treatment and recommended that a state party guarantee access to emergency contraception to victims of rape. 

 Special Rapporteur’s report is online here. 

For  FIGO’s  Contraceptive Sterilization Guidelines, 2011,
see  page 122 of FIGO’s booklet of ethical guidelines, online here.

Link to CRR webpage on RR v Poland is online here. 

UN Committee Against Torture’s  concluding observations to Peru, January 2013, para 15, calling for the legalization of emergency contraception to victims of rape, are discussed here.

Dr. Ronli Sifris’s thesis abstract on Abortion Restrictions, Involuntary Sterilization and the Convention on Torture or CDIT is available here.

U.S. Judge orders FDA to remove age restriction for access to Emergency Contraception

Congratulations to our esteemed colleagues at The Center for Reproductive Rights,  who won their renewed lawsuit against the Food and Drug Agency (FDA)  in federal court in Brooklyn, New York
on April 5, 2013.

The FDA’s denial of approval to make the “Plan-B One Step” emergency contraception available over-the-counter (OTC), without prescription, to women of all ages was considered “arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable.”  The judge also found  a “a strong showing of bad faith and improper political influence” by the Obama Administration in refusing OTC approval.   The judge has ordered that, within 30 days, Plan B One-Step must be available over-the-counter at point of sale,  without any age restriction.  

This is a huge victory.   The decision is significant in developing the legal norms to ensure accessibility to emergency contraception in the US.   The standard for suing a federal agency over its decisions is a very tough one.  The Center should be very proud of its courage in bringing this case and its tenacity in litigating it.

For details, see CRR’s initial press release,  online here.

An overview of CRR’s decade-long litigation campaign is online here.

Media coverage from The New York Times  is online here.

RH Reality Check blog comments are online here.

The entire decision, Tummino et al. v. Hamburg et al.,
can be downloaded here.

Decisions, Guidelines, Courses, Resources, News & Jobs

REPROHEALTHLAW-L
April 10, 2013

DECISION

United States:  Emergency Contraception must be made available over-the-counter, without prescription, to women of all ages.
Decision of April 5, 2013,  Tummino et al. v. Hamburg et al.
can be downloaded here.
Initial press release from Center for Reproductive Rights:  online here.
Overview of CRR’s decade-long litigation campaign is online here.

GUIDELINES:

New FIGO guidelines on “Safe Motherhood” published by the FIGO Committee for the Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction and Women’s Health in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 120.3 (March 2013): 312-313, mention: “Where abortion is not against the law, every woman should have the right, after appropriate counseling, to have access to medication or surgical abortion. The healthcare service has an obligation to provide such services as safely as possible. Proper medical and humane treatment should be made available to women who have undergone an unsafe abortion.”

For other FIGO Ethical Guidelines on abortion, contraception and related subjects, in English French and Spanish, click here. 

 COURSES

[Argentina] Diplomatura en Salud y Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos (SDSR). Gestión Integral de Políticas, Programas y Servicios, Inicia 18 de abril de 2013, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Spanish course information online.

[US] The Global School on Judicial Enforcement of ESC Rights Course on Health Rights Litigation – one-week intensive course, Sept. 16-20, 2013 at Harvard University in Boston, MA, includes reproductive and sexual health;  designed for PhD students, scholars, practitioners (e.g., law, public health, human rights or development), policy-makers and advanced master’s students. The number of participants is restricted, and applications are due to rcantor{at}hsph.harvard.edu  by June 1, 2013.  For application and more course details,
see Current Projects, Item 3(A), here.  

RESOURCES

[abortion: Barbados] “Capturing the Moment: The Barbados Experience of Abortion Law Reform – An Interview with Dame Billie Miller,” by Dame Billie Miller and Nicole Parris in Social and Economic Studies 61.3(Sept 2012) Special Issue on Women’s Reproductive Health and Rights in Select Caribbean Countries (Guest Editors: Taitu Heron and Shakira Maxwell): Article online.

[abortion: Germany and Canada]“ The German Abortion Decisions and the Protective Function in German and Canadian Constitutional Law by Vanessa MacDonnell and Jula Hughes, forthcoming in Osgoode Hall Law Journal (Summer 2013): Text available online.

[abortion: Guyana]  “Legal but Inaccessible: Abortion in Guyana.” by Fred Nunes in Social and Economic Studies 61.3(Sept 2012) Special Issue on Women’s Reproductive Health and Rights in Select Caribbean Countries (Guest Editors: Taitu Heron and Shakira Maxwell):  
Article online.

[abortion, Jamaica]  “Fighting a Losing Battle? Defending Women’s Reproductive Rights in Twenty-First Century Jamaica.” by Shakira Maxwell in Social and Economic Studies 61.3(Sept 2012) Special Issue on Women’s Reproductive Health and Rights in Select Caribbean Countries (Guest Editors: Taitu Heron and Shakira Maxwell):  
Article online.

“Religion, Culture and Tradition: Strengthening Efforts to Eradicate Violence against Women,” by Shareen Gokal and Sandra Dughman Manzur, AWID briefing document for CSW57, contains useful links and summaries of relevant international human rights instruments and discussion of religious justifications for human rights violations. Download from AWID.

[emergency contraception] UN 57th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women agrees to end violence against women and girls, including and the agreed language explicitly calls for accessible and affordable health care services, including emergency contraception, for victims of violence:  Agreed conclusions online.  

[Farsi / Persian resource for Iranian women] 1500-word excerpt from Rebecca Cook’s “State Responsibility for Violations of Women’s Rights,” (1994) has been translated and published in an online open-access journal, Law, Culture and Gender, issue 11, (2013) by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting:   
1500-word excerpt in Farsi (Persian).

“Human Rights and Accountability,” PMNCH Knowledge Summary #23, Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, 2013:
4-page overview with references.

Jurisprudence on Health and Reproductive Rights, summarized by Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
 in English and  in Spanish

Jurisprudence summaries on gender violence, equality and discrimination, rights of children and adolescents, also by CEJIL:
in English     and in Spanish  

 Other CEJIL Publications, including summaries of Norms in the Inter-American Human Rights System:   in English;   in Spanish

“Religion, Culture and Tradition: Strengthening Efforts to Eradicate Violence against Women,” by Shareen Gokal and Sandra Dughman Manzur, AWID briefing document for CSW57, contains useful links and summaries of relevant international human rights instruments and discussion of religious justifications for human rights violations. Download from AWID.

Reprohealthlaw – Legal commentaries on past decisions and developments are online here.

NEWS:

France’s Free Abortion Law Takes Effect.  Huffington Post article.

[abortion] Indonesia and Pakistan have new hotlines for info about safe medical abortion     ASAP blog post
More info re Pakistan hotline.

Northern Irish women risk jail for using abortion pills.  news report.

Philippines Supreme Court stops implementation of Reproductive Health Law for 120 days. news report.

Philippines needs resolute political support on reproductive health. editorial by Melissa Upreti.

US-focused news, resources, and legal developments are available on Repro Rights Prof Blog.  View or subscribe.

JOBS

Legal Assistant for Europe and Global Advocacy Programs, Center for Reproductive Rights, NY USA, apply by April 18, 2013.  Job details.

Program Associate, Global Legal Program, Center for Reproductive Rights.  Apply by April 13, 2013. Job details.

Links to other employers in the field of Reproductive and Sexual Health Law are online here.

Compiled by the Coordinator of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca For Program publications and resources, see our website, online here.
Our Annual Report for 2012 is now online through our homepage.

Decisions, Calls, Education, Resources & News

REPROHEALTHLAW-L
March 7, 2013

DECISIONS: 

Costa Rica IVF assisted reproduction decision – now summarized in Spanish by Mónica Arango, Alejandra Cárdenas & María Laura Rojas on the Gender & Law blog from Los Andes University:
Spanish summary       English details from previous blog

Spain: Dr Carlos Morin and his abortion clinic staff absolved of all charges Comments on trial in English.
Decision online in Spanish
News coverage in Spanish

CALLS

Gender Justice Uncovered Awards from Women’s Link Worldwide
Contribute to the Gender Justice Observatory:
Nominate the Best and Worst recent cases that (best) promote gender equality or (worst) perpetuate sexism.    English    Spanish

Calls for Nominations: Darroch Award for Excellence in Sexual and Reproductive Health Research presented by the Guttmacher Institute.  Nomination deadline: Friday, May 17, 2013.  Award details

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

Vienna Master of Arts in Human Rights – apply by 14 April 2013.  application information

EVENTS:

“Abortion, motherhood and the medical profession,” U.K. conference, organised jointly by BPAS and RSM. London, England  Wed, 12 June 2013.    Includes session on “Information, Counselling and the Law,” with law professor Sally Sheldon.   Conference details.

RESOURCES

[abortion, Asia]   “Poverty, Food Security, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: Integrating and Reinforcing State Responsibilities, Integrating Societal Action” by Dr. Shobha Raghuram et al,  ARROW research report, 2012,  includes abortion   102-page research report

[abortion, Caribbean]: “Women’s Reproductive Health and Rights in Select Caribbean Countries (focuses on Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana), by Taitu Heron &  Shakira Maxwell in  Social Economic Studies (Social Sciences Journal of the University of the West Indies) , special issue, 61.3 (September 2012) includes articles on Unsafe Abortion, advocacy and law reform (Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago), Abortion laws and implementation (Guyana and Barbados).   Abstract only at SSRN.

[abortion]: Legal Abortion Levels and Trends by Woman’s Age at Termination, Gilda Sedgh,  Akinrinola Bankole, Susheela Singh and Michelle Eilers,  forthcoming in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2013   Early view online

 [abortion, Canada]:  25^th Anniversary of Supreme Court judgment R. v. Morgentaler 1988, which depenalized abortion in Canada , panel of key players held at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, Jan 28, 2013.  Written summary    14-minute CBC radio excerpt

[abortion, Ireland]:  “Reviewing Ireland’s Abortion Regime,” by Eoin Carolan, University College Dublin – School of Law.  Article online. 

[abortion, Ireland]   UN Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, Addendum re Mission to Ireland (19-23 Nov, 2012)  A/HRC/22/47/Add.3, discusses impact of Ireland’s restrictive abortion law (paras 79-87, 111) on reproductive healthcare providers, advocates, access to information, and calls Ireland to publicly recognize sexual and repro rights defenders as human rights defenders.  UN HR Mission to Ireland report

[abortion, Mexico City]  “Feminismo, religión y democracia en el proceso de legalización del aborto en la Ciudad de México” (Feminism, Religion and Democracy in the Process of Abortion Legalization in Mexico City) by Alba Ruibal. Estudios, No. 27, pp. 13-26, January-June 2012. 
See English abstract,  or download paper in Spanish.

[abortion, South Africa] “Termination-of-Pregnancy Rights and Foetal Interests in Continued Existence in South Africa: The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act 92 of 1996,” by Camilla Pickles. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 15.5 , 2012.  
Abstract and article .  

[abortion, guidance from WHO]   “Updated WHO Guidance on Safe Abortion: Health and Human Rights,”  by Joanna N. Erdman, Teresa DePiñeres & Eszter Kismodi, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 120 (Feb 2013): 200-203. Abstract and Article

[abortion rights & embryonic research] “Legislating Respect: A Pro-Choice Feminist Analysis of Embryo Research Restrictions in Canada,” by Maneesha Deckha,  compares feminist articulations re right to abortion (bodily integrity and equality) with feminist arguments against the expansive use of embryos in research (commodification and exploitation).  McGill Law Journal 58.1 (2012): 199.   Abstract only.

[misoprostol] WHO recommendations for misoprostol use for obstetric and gynecologic indications,  by Jennifer Tang, Nathalie Kapp, Monica Dragoman, Joao Paulo de Souza  forthcoming, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics   proofs online. 

Misoprostol in women’s hands: a harm reduction strategy for unsafe abortion by Alyson Hyman, Kelly Blanchard, Francine Coeytaux, Daniel Grossman, Alexandra Teixeira, in Contraception 87.2 (February 2013): 128-130.   Article online.   

Reproductive rights and the State:  Getting the Birth Control, RU 486, and Morning-After pills and the Gardasil Vaccine to the US Market, by Melissa Haussman (Praeger, 2013).  New book information online

NEWS:

Belarus:  Government restricts exceptions allowing abortion between 12 and 22 weeks to rape victims and women “deprived of paternal rights.”  They removed eight other “social” exceptions previously allowed, including divorce or death of the husband during the pregnancy, unemployment, or already having three or more children.  Abortion continues to be unrestricted in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy and throughout pregnancy for medical indications.
News article in Cyrillic text.   

Canada: PEI – the only Canadian province with no abortion services, but one doctor is providing medical (chemical) abortions.  News article.

German bishops agree that Catholic hospitals can prescribe emergency contraception to rape victims.  News article.

Philippines:  Bishops protest in vain against Reproductive Health Bill, which expands contraceptive access.   Blog article.

US-focused news, resources, and legal developments are available on Repro Rights Prof Blog.  View or subscribe here.
 
JOBS

Links to employers in the field of Reproductive and Sexual Health Law are online here

Compiled by the Coordinator of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca For Program publications and resources, see our website, online here.
http://www.law.utoronto.ca/programs-centres/programs/irshl-reproductive-and-sexual-health-law