REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – 2023-24

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DEVELOPMENTS

[Argentina, preventable maternal death,”obstetric violence”] Britez Arce et. al. v. Argentina. (Inter-American Court of Human Rights, November 16, 2022). Decision in English. Decision in Spanish. Press Release Jan 18, 2023. Comment by CRR. [Earlier: Merits report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Report 236/19, Case 13.002. Report in English-download.)

[Bolivia, rape of a minor, revictimization] Losado v Bolivia (Inter-American Court of Human Rights, November 18, 2022) English press release Jan 19, 2023 Summary in Spanish. Decision in Spanish. The Court held Bolivia responsible for gender and child discrimination, and revictimization of an adolescent victim of sexual violence during the judicial process.

[Colombia, abortion decriminalized] Sentencia C-055-22.  Expediente D-13.956. Demanda de inconstitucionalidad contra el artículo 122 de la Ley 599 del 2000. (Constitutional Court of Colombia, February 21, 2022). Decision in Spanish (414 pages).  Backup decision in Spanish.  Unofficial English translation. 27-page Spanish press release.  English summary of Press Release.  1-page Spanish press release. [Abortion is decriminalized within 24 weeks of gestation, and thereafter permitted on specified grounds.] 

[El Salvador, abortion, anencephaly] Beatriz v. El Salvador, Case 13-378, Report No. 09/20, Inter-Am. C.H.R. (2020) (Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, January 5, 2022): Report in Spanish. Case Summary in Spanish.  Press release in English. [Woman with lupus and kidney failure denied abortion for fetus with anencephaly.] Inter-American Court of Human Rights held hearings in March 2023.

France made abortion a fundamental constitutional right. March 4, 2024. Parliamentarians voted to revise the country’s 1958 constitution to enshrine women’s “guaranteed freedom” to abort. News report in English.

[Mexico, Abortion decriminalized], Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación [Supreme Court], 2023..Review of Constitutional Protection. Amparo en revisión 267/2023. Sept. 6, 2023. Speaker: Justice Ana Margarita Ríos Farjat. Decided September 6, 2023. Official Press release in Spanish.   [Abortion is decriminalized throughout Mexico.]

[Northern Ireland, UN CEDAW] Report of the Inquiry concerning the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland under article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, (2018) U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/OP.8/GBR/1  Original CEDAW 2018 report.  Comments by Clare Pierson. [abortion, a crime in Northern Ireland following sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against Persons Act 1861, was legalized in 2020.]
—Follow-up report submitted by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 16 January 2023, published March 14, 2023 as CEDAW/C/OP.*/GBR/3/Add.1.  Followup report in different formats, English, French and Spanish.  [Among other reforms, Northern Ireland established a Gender Equality Strategy Expert Advisory Panel whose Report of December 2020 is online here]. 

[Peru, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child] Camila v. Peru, Communication No. 136/2021.U.N. Doc CRC/C/93/D/136/2021 (June 13, 2023) Decision online in Spanish, Arabic and Russian.  Decision in English (May 25, 2023, *unofficial draft). Case note by Godfrey Kangaude.  [Child raped by her father. Ruling: Peru violated child rape victim’s rights by failing to guarantee access to abortion and criminally prosecuting her for self-abortion.]

[Peru, child marriage] Ley N.º 31945 to prohibit and eliminate any possibility of marriage with minors under the age of 18 was promulgated on 25 November 2023. Prior to the new legislation, Article 42 of Peru’s Civil Code permitted adolescents to marry from the age of 14 under certain conditions, with consent from at least one parent, despite the minimum legal age of marriage being 18 years for girls and boys. Context in English.

[Poland, ECtHR ruled against fetal abnormality abortion ban] M.L. v. POLAND (Application no. 40119/21) (European Court of Human Rights, December 14, 2023) [Woman forced to travel for abortion of malformed fetus. Court found violation of ECHR Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the ECHR, following a 2020 Constitutional Court ban on legal abortion in case of foetal abnormalities. Press release. Decision of 14 Dec 2023.

[Poland, fetal abnormality risk, inadmissible] A.M. and others v. Poland (application no. 4188/21, 4957/21, 5014/21,5523/21, 5876/21, 6114/21, 6217/21, 8857/21) (European Court of Human Rights, May 16, 2023) ruled these 8 cases inadmissible because each applicant could not claim to be a victim of a violation of the ECHR owing to risk of a future violation. Press Release. Decision of 16 May 2023.

[Spain, access to abortion information] Tribunal Supremo de España, Sala Tercera, de lo Contencioso-administrativo, Sección 4ª, S 1231/2022, 3 Oct. 2022 (Rec. 6147/2021)  Decision in Spanish.  Spanish backup copy.  Decision in English.  English backup copy. [The Government cannot block public access to a website containing information or opinions without judicial authorization.  This includes the site of Women on Web, which discusses access to abortion.

[Turkey, abortion for rape victim], [Case of] R.G. [GK], B. No: 2017/31619, 23/7/2020,.July 23, 2020. (Grand Chamber of the Turkish Constitutional Court)   27-page decision in Turkish. Backup copy. Official press release in English. Backup copy.  Comment  in English on IACL/AIDC Blog. Article in English from a Turkish Journal of Constitutional Law  [procrastination after rape victim applied for abortion violated the right to protect one’s corporeal and spiritual existence (provided under Article 17 of Turkish Constitution.

[UK – challenge to fetal abnormality ground for abortion] R (on the Application of Crowter and Ors) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care EWCA Civ 1559 Case No: CA-2021-000314 (UK Court of Appeal (Civil Division) London, 25 Nov., 2022, Judgment summary. Decision online.  [UK legislation allowing abortion for substantial risk of a born child’s serious handicap (such as Down syndrome) is not incompatible with disabled persons’ human rights to respect for their private and family life and to nondiscrimination.] This was an appeal of [2021] EWHC 2536 (Admin) Case No. CO/2066/2020 (High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, London) Sept 23, 2021.  Judgment and summary.    [fetus has no established rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), so UK abortion law allowing legal abortions in cases of severe fetal abnormalities is compatible with ECHR.]

[Venezuela, obstetric violence] Inter-American Court of Human Rights – Case of Rodríguez Pacheco et al. v. Venezuela. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of September 1, 2023. Series C No. 504. Press release in English. Official Summary in Spanish. 82-page judgment in Spanish. Download partial dissent by Judge Sierra Porto. Download: partial dissent by Judge Pérez Goldberg. The Court ruled that Venezuela is responsible for deficiencies in Judicial Proceedings on a Complaint of acts of obstetric violence and medical malpractice that took place in a private hospital.

SCHOLARSHIP

[comparative abortion law] Rebecca J. Cook and Bernard M. Dickens, “Abortion,” in Jan M. Smits, Jaakko Husa, Catherine Valcke and Madalena Narciso, eds., Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, 3rd ed., (Cheltenham, UK: Elgar Publishing, 2023), 3-11. Abstract online here. Full text and PDF online

[abortion law, Colombia] “The new Colombian law on abortion,” by Isabel C Jaramillo Sierra, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 160.1 (January 2023): 345-350.  Abstract and Article. 

[abortion law and policy] “Self managed abortion: aligning law and policy with medical evidence,” by Patty Skuster, Heidi Moseson and Jamila Perritt, in International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 160.2 (February 2023): 720-725. Abstract and Article.  

[abortion law and policy, guideline] “The WHO Abortion Care Guideline: Law and Policy–Past, Present and Future,” by Joanna N. Erdman, in International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 162.3 (Sept 2023): 1119–1124. Abstract and Article.  WHO Abortion Care guideline, 2022.

[adolescents, Africa] “Integrating child rights standards in contraceptive and abortion care for minors in Africa,” by Godfrey Dalitso Kangaude, Catriona Macleod, Ernestina Coast and Tamara Fetters, International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics 159.3 (December 2022): 998-1004.   Abstract and Article.

[Africa, Zimbabwe, rewrite abortion decision, gender equality] Charles Ngwena and Rebecca J. Cook, “Restoring Mai Mapingure’s Equal Citizenship,” In: Rebecca J. Cook, ed., Frontiers of Gender Equality: Transnational Legal Perspectives (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023). Abstract online.  Book available here. Introduction to the book (by Rebecca Cook).

[gender equality, health, CEDAW GR 24] “Gender Equality in Health Care: Reenvisioning CEDAW General Recommendation 24,” by Joanna N. Erdman and Mariana Prandini Assis, in Frontiers of Gender Equality: Transnational Legal Perspectives, ed. Rebecca J. Cook (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023). Abstract online in English. Portuguese translation of this chapter. Book available here. Introduction to the book (by Rebecca Cook).

[gender equality] Rebecca J. Cook, “Many Paths to Gender Equality,” Introduction to: Frontiers of Gender Equality: Transnational Legal Perspectives (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023). Introduction online.

[infertility] “”Human Rights Approaches to Reducing Infertility,” by Payal K. Shah and Jaime M. Gher, in International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics.162.1 (July 2023): 368–374.  Abstract and Article. 

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

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

______________
Contributed by: the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca.   See Program website for our Publications,  Research resources, and Reprohealthlaw Commentaries Series.  TO JOIN THE REPROHEALTHLAW BLOG: enter your email address in the upper right corner of our blog, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – Autumn 2022

SUBSCRIBE TO REPROHEALTHLAW: To receive these updates by email, enter your address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

DEVELOPMENTS

COLOMBIA: Corte Constitucional [Constitutional Court] February 21, 2022, Sentencia C-055-22.  27-page Spanish communicado.  27-page unofficial English translation.  Nota de Prensa (Spanish).   Download unofficial English translation.  (Abortion is decriminalized within 24 weeks of gestation.]

INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS – EL SALVADOR Manuela et al. v. El Salvador,  Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (ser. C) No 441. (November 2, 2021).  Decision in English.. Backup copy. Decision in Spanish.  Backup copy in Spanish..Comment by Centre for Reproductive Rights.  [El Salvador was held accountable for the arbitrary detention, torture, and conviction of a woman after obstetric emergency and loss of pregnancy in 2008. Convicted of “aggravated homicide.” Two years later, Manuela died from cancer, in prison.]

KENYA: PAK & Salim Mohammed v. Attorney General & 3 Others (Constitutional Petition E009 of 2020) [2022] KEHC 262 (KLR) (24 March 2022) (High Court of Kenya at Malindi)  Decision online.   Backup copy.    Press release by CRR. [Abortion care is a fundamental constitutional right. Arrests of patients and clinicians are illegal. Parliament is directed to align law and policy with the Constitution.]

MEXICO: AI 148/2017 Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación 2021,  Acción de inconstitucionalidad AI 148/2017, Sept 7, 2021  Decision in Spanish.   News report in English.   Official press release in Spanish.  Official press release in English.  [Criminalizing abortion is unconstitutional; state interests in protecting fetus cannot outweigh the reproductive rights of women.]

MEXICO AI 106/2018: Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación [Supreme Court] 2021, Acción de inconstitucionalidad AI 106/2018 and 107/2018), Sept. 7, 2021.  Decision in Spanish.  Official press release in English.  [States may not establish a right to life from the moment of conception in their local constitutions]

MEXICO AI 54/2018: Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación 2021, Acción de inconstitucionalidad AI 54/2018, Sept 21, 2021.   Decision in Spanish.  Decision backup.    Official press release in English.  [This ruling struck down part of the General Law regulating health services nationwide, because it established an expansive right to conscientious objection by medical personnel, without establishing the limits necessary to ensure patients’ rights to healthcare.]

NEW ZEALAND: High Court decision in NZ Health Professionals’ Alliance v Attorney-General, Sept. 24, 2021, upholds sections of the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977 (‘CSAA’), amended in the Abortion Legislation Act 2020, regarding conscientious objectors’ duty to refer and (within reason) accommodation of objecting employees. News report.  Decision online. Commentary on decision. 

NORTHERN IRELAND Judicial review by Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission: In re NIHRC (Abortion), “In the matter of an application by The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission for Judicial Review – In the matter of the failure by the Secretary of State, Executive Committee and Minister of Health to provide women with access to Abortion and Post Abortion Care in All Public Health Facilities in Northern Ireland [2021] NIQB 91 Delivered 14 October 2021.    Decision online.  Backup copy.    Official Summary.  News story.   [Secretary of State failed to comply with 2019 Act  to “expeditiously” provide women in Northern Ireland with access to high quality abortion and post abortion services].

POLAND: Applications have been filed before the European Court of Human Rights by more than 1,000 Polish women who were denied abortions or who postponed their reproductive decisions out of fear. [because of the Constitutional Tribunal’s October 2020 ruling that disallowed abortion in cases of severe and irreversible fetal defects. Result: almost total ban on abortion.] Human Rights Watch report.

POLAND: “Izabel”, 22-weeks pregnant, died of septic shock in Sept 2021 while doctors waited for her doomed fetus to die within her.  Washington Post Nov 2021 article. Mass protests focused on the Oct 2020 abortion ban ruling, but, so far, only hospital and staff have been held accountable. Notes from Poland, Sept. 2022.

UNITED STATES: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, No. 19-1392, 597 U.S. _ (2022) (Supreme Court of the United States), held that the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion. Case summary by CRR. Amicus brief by Martha Davis et al. IJGO article and other amicus briefs.

NEW INTERNATIONAL ABORTION CARE GUIDELINE

[WHO] Abortion Care Guideline (Geneva: World Health Organization, 2022). Chapter 2 discusses Law and Policy.
Download the Guideline, or see Overview and Supplementary resources.

SCHOLARSHIP

[abortion law, France] [Why and how to constitutionalize abortion law]: ‘Pourquoi et comment constitutionaliser le droit à l’avortement,” par Stéphanie Hennette-Vauchez, Diane Roman et Serge Slama, La Revue des Droits de l’Homme, Actualités Droits-Libertés | 2022 Juillet 2022. Full text in French.

[abortion law, Latin America] “Pushing Past the Tipping Point: Can the Inter-American System Accommodate Abortion Rights?” by Patricia Palacios Zuloaga, Human Rights Law Review 21.4 (Dec 2021): 899–934. Abstract and Article.

“Abortion Lawfare in Latin America: Some Reading Keys for a Changing Scenario, ” special issue eds. Catarina Barbieri, Camila Gianella, Maria Defago, and Marta Machado (2021) Rev. Direito GV vol. 17 no 3, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Epub Dec 15, 2021. Overview and three articles in English.

[abortion law, Mexico] “The Decriminalization of Abortion: A Landmark Decision by the Mexican Supreme Court,” by Joy Monserrat Ochoa Martínez,and Roberto Niembro Ortega, I-CONnect Blog, Posted: 12 Oct 2021. Expert comment.

[abortion law, Poland] “The Scales of the European Court of Human Rights: Abortion Restriction in Poland, the European Consensus, and the State’s Margin of Appreciation,” by Julia Kapelańska-Pręgowska, Health and Human Rights Journal 23.2 (Dec 2021): 213-224. Abstract and article.

[abortion law, USA] “The state of abortion rights in the US,” by Martha F. Davis. International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 159.1 (Oct 2022): 324-329 Abstract online. Article: free access .

[abortion law, USA] Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present, by Mary Ziegler. (Cambridge University Press, 2020). Publisher’s abstract.

“Conscientious Objection and the Duty to Refer,” by Bernard M. Dickens, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 2021; 155: 556-560. PDF at Wiley Online.  Submitted Text at SSRN.

[conscientious objection: Argentina] “Regulating Conscientious Objection to Legal Abortion in Argentina: Taking into Consideration Its Uses and Consequences,” by Agustina Ramón Michel, Stephanie Kung, Alyse López-Salm, and Sonia Ariza Navarrete, Health and Human Rights Journal 22.2 (Dec 2020): 271 – 384. Abstract and article.

[Conscientious objection: South Africa, nurses] “Power dynamics in the provision of legal abortion : a feminist perspective on nurses and conscientious objection in South Africa” by Satang Nabaneh, Doctoral Thesis (LLD)–University of Pretoria, 2020, now online: Doctoral thesis – 290 pages.

Conscientious Objection / The Right to Conscience, an annotated bibliography, updated Feb. 15, 2021 Conscience Bibiography.

[Conscientious objection] Global Map of Norms regarding Conscientious Objection, a searchable interactive map for comparative law, by Agustina Ramón Michel (coordinator) and Dana Repka (CEDES / REDAAS) with the support of Ipas and the ELA team. Updated December 15, 2022: Global Map of Norms re Conscientious Objection.

“Contested Rights: Abortion and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the United Nations,” by Erin Aylward, Ph.D. thesis, University of Toronto, Canada, Nov. 2020. Abortion/SOGI thesis.

[migrants] “International migrants’ right to sexual and reproductive health care,” by Y. Y. Brandon Chen, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 2022;157: 210–215  PDF at Wiley online.  Submitted Text at SSRN. 

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

JOBS
Links to employers in the field of Reproductive and Sexual Health Law are online here.
______________
Compiled by: the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca.   See Program website for our Publications,  Research resources, and Reprohealthlaw Commentaries Series.  TO JOIN THE REPROHEALTHLAW BLOG: enter your email address in the upper right corner of our blog, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

Argentina: Regulating Conscientious Objection

Congratulations to Agustina Ramón Michel, Stephanie Kung, Alyse López-Salm, and Sonia Ariza Navarrete for their 2021 publication in the Health and Human Rights Journal about a CEDES and Ipas report in Spanish about conscientious objectors in Argentina. We are pleased to circulate abstracts for both publications:

“Regulating Conscientious Objection to Legal Abortion in Argentina: Taking into Consideration Its Uses and Consequences,” by Agustina Ramón Michel, Stephanie Kung, Alyse López-Salm, and Sonia Ariza Navarrete, Health and Human Rights Journal 22.2 (Dec 2020): 271 – 384. Abstract and article.

Abstract: Claims of conscientious objection (CO) have expanded in the health care field, particularly in relation to abortion services. In practice, CO is being used in ways beyond those originally imagined by liberalism, creating a number of barriers to abortion access. In Argentina, current CO regulation is lacking and insufficient. This issue was especially evident in the country’s 2018 legislative debate on abortion law reform, during which CO took center stage. This paper presents a mixed-method study conducted in Argentina on the uses of CO in health facilities providing legal abortion services, with the goal of proposing specific regulatory language to address CO based not only on legal standards but also on empirical findings regarding CO in everyday reproductive health services. The research includes a review of literature and comparative law, a survey answered by 269 health professionals, and 11 in-depth interviews with stakeholders. The results from our survey and interviews indicate that Argentine health professionals who use CO to deny abortion are motivated by a combination of political, social, and personal factors, including a fear of stigmatization and potential legal issues. Furthermore, we find that the preeminent consequences of CO are delays in abortion services and conflicts within the health care team. The findings of this research allowed us to propose specific regulatory recommendations on CO, including limits and obligations, and suggestions for government and health system leaders.

Una vuelta de tuerca a la objeción de conciencia: Una propuesta regulatoria a partir de las prácticas del aborto legal en Argentina, por Sonia Ariza Navarrete & Agustina Ramón Michel, (Buenos Aires: CEDES e Ipas, 2019.  Informe en espanol.

Sumario: En esta publicación sobre la objeción de conciencia (OC) a la ILE en Argentina, desarrollado por Ipas y la Red de Acceso al Aborto Seguro, Argentina (REDAAS), presentamos una propuesta para regular la OC en el marco de una política pública. Esto lo hacemos de manera empíricamente informada –en particular, relevando las formas que adquiere la OC, y las opiniones de profesionales de la salud sobre las causas e impacto a través de una encuesta y una serie de entrevistas– y con un encuadre conceptual que pone en juego anhelos normativos, necesidades concretas, experiencias cotidianas tanto de los equipos de salud como de las autoridades sanitarias, así como las características estructurales de la formación médica, las condiciones institucionales de los servicios de salud y el ambiente sociopolítico.

OTHER RELEVANT RESOURCES

The first global map on norms regarding conscientious objection in healthcare, by Agustina Ramón Michel (coordinator) and Dana Repka (CEDES / REDAAS), with support from Ipas and the ELA team. The map is an exercise in comparative law which houses, describes and analyzes constitutional, legal, and regulatory standards regarding CO in healthcare of 180 of the world’s countries, and includes the most relevant law cases in national, regional, and international Human Rights courts. This interactive map is searchable by categories and multiple variables, which makes it easier to do a comparative study of the regulations and analysis of specific regulatory aspects. Updated December 15, 2022: Global Map of Norms re Conscientious Objection.

“Conscientious Objection and the Duty to Refer,” by Bernard M. Dickens, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 2021; 155: 556-560. PDF at Wiley Online.  Submitted Text at SSRN.

Conscientious Objection / The Right to Conscience, an annotated bibliography, updated Feb. 15, 2021 Conscience Bibiography.

———————
Compiled by: the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca.   See Program website for our Publications,  Research resources, and Reprohealthlaw Commentaries Series.  TO JOIN THE REPROHEALTHLAW BLOG: enter your email address in the upper right corner of our blog, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – Winter 2021

SUBSCRIBE TO REPROHEALTHLAW: To receive these updates by email, enter your address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

DEVELOPMENTS
Argentina legalized abortion within 14 weeks’ gestation, Dec. 30, 2020. Newspaper report.

South Korea decriminalized abortion, effective Jan. 1 2021, by order of the Constitutional Court of Korea
Decision of 2019 explained by Prof. Hyunah Yang.

Thailand – abortion became legal on request within 12 weeks, Feb. 7, 2021, based on Constitutional Court judgment of Feb. 19, 2020 (English summary download), and legislative amendments of Jan. 25, 2021 Newspaper report.

NEW CASE SUMMARIES:
[Kenya, abortion law, rape, training healthcare professionals] Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida – Kenya) & 3 others v Attorney General & 2 others [2019] eKLR, Petition No. 266 of 2015, Decision of June 12, 2019. (High Court of Kenya at Nairobi, Constitutional and Human Rights Division) Decision online. Case Summary by Benson Chakaya (download PDF). Overview by Bernard Dickens.

[Zimbabwe, transgender, constitutional rights] Ricky Nathanson v Farai Mteliso, The Officer in Charge Bulawayo Central Police Station, Commissioner of Police and the Minister of Home Affairs, Case no.HB 176/19 HC 1873/14 [2019] ZWBHC 135( (14 November 2019);  (Zimbabwe, High Court) Decision online.   Overview on Reprohealthlaw Blog. Case Summary by Keikantse Phele (download PDF).

SCHOLARSHIP
Access to Abortion: An Annotated Bibliography of Reports and Scholarship. (Toronto: International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, 2020) 44 pages. Abortion access bibliography.

[abortion – COVID-19] “Legal and Policy Responses to the Delivery of Abortion Care During COVID-19,” by Elizabeth Chloe Romanis & Jordan A Parsons. International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 151.3 (December 2020): 479-486  PDF at Wiley online. Submitted Text at SSRN.

[abortion – Europe] “Access to Abortion in Cases of Fatal Foetal Abnormality: A New Direction for the European Court of Human Rights?” by Bríd Ní Ghráinne and Aisling McMahon, Human Rights Law Review 19.3 (November 2019, Pages 561–584, Abstract and institutional access.

[abortion laws – map] “Global Abortion laws Relating to Self-Managed Abortion,” interactive map created by Ipas with the Center for Public Health Law Research at Temple University, based on WHO Global Abortion Policies database, “displays self-managed abortion laws in 180 countries and 40 sub-national jurisdictions including Australia and Mexico, as of June 1, 2019. Self-Managed Abortion Law Map

“Bioethics training in reproductive health in Mexico,” by Gustavo Ortiz-Millán and Frances Kissling, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 151.2 (November, 2020): 308-313  PDF at Wiley Online. Submitted Text at SSRN. 
Also forthcoming in Spanish:    Bioética y derechos reproductivos de las mujeres en México, edited by Lourdes Enríquez Rosas, María del Pilar González Barreda, and Arturo Sotelo Gutiérrez (Fonde de Cultura Económica and the Programa Universitario de Bioética of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)

[Brazil] “Confidentiality and treatment refusal: conservative shifts on reproductive rights by Brazilian medical boards,” by Juliana Cesario Alvim Gomes and Corina Helena Figueira Mendes, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 152.3 (March 2021): 459-464.   PDF at Wiley online.   

[conscience, Argentina] “Una vuelta de tuerca a la objeción de conciencia: Una propuesta regulatoria a partir de las prácticas
del aborto legal en Argentina,” por Sonia Ariza Navarrete & Agustina Ramón Michel (Ipas, 2019) Descargar informe en PDF. Summario – Espanol y Ingles. 

[conscience – Argentina] “Re-thinking the Use of Conscientious Objection by Health Professionals: A regulatory proposal based on legal abortion practices in Argentina, 2019  Executive Summary – English and Spanish. 

“Conscience Wars in the Americas,” by Douglas NeJaime and Reva Siegel, Latin American Law Review 5 (2020): 1-26
English and Spanish on web.   Download English PDF      Spanish PDF.

Conscientious Objection / The Right to Conscience – annotated bibliography, updated Feb. 15, 2021.

Women’s Birthing Bodies and the Law: Unauthorised Intimate Examinations, Power and Vulnerability, new book edited by Camilla Pickles and Jonathan Herring. Hart Publishing, 2020. Publisher’s webpage.  

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

JOBS
Links to employers in the field of Reproductive and Sexual Health Law are online here.
______________
Compiled by: the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca.   See Program website for our Publications,  Research resources, and Reprohealthlaw Commentaries Series.  TO JOIN THE REPROHEALTHLAW BLOG: enter your email address in the upper right corner of our blog, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – June 2019

SUBSCRIBE TO REPROHEALTHLAW: To receive these updates monthly by email, enter your address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

DEVELOPMENTS:

[abortion, Germany]: Two more doctors fined for “advertising” abortion.  Newspaper report.  Criminal restrictions on abortion “advertising” restricts information provision – comment by Stephanie Schlitt.

[abortion, United Kingdom] UK Appeal court overturns forced abortion ruling. Termination had been said to be in best interests of woman with learning disabilities. The Guardian newspaper.

[abortion law, Croatia]:  Constitutional Court decision of February 21, 2017.  Rješenje Ustavnog Suda Republike Hrvatske, broj: U-I-60/1991 i dr. od 21.veljace 2017.  Decision in Croatian.  Summary from CRR.   Court’s press release.   New: Judgment translated into English.    I-CONnect Symposium online.

[abortion law, Mexico]  Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación, Primera Sala [Supreme Court] 2019,  Amparo en Revisión 1388/2015
[Case of “Marisa,” ruled that abortion should be allowed when mother’s health at risk]  May 15, 2019.  Decision in Spanish.   Backup copy.

[Costa Rica] Emergency contraception (Levonorgestrel) approved by Ministry of Health, for sale without prescription.  News article.

[homosexuality rulings]:
“Botswana’s High Court decriminalizes gay sex.”  June 12, 2019.  New York Times report.
“India: [Supreme] Court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling,” Sept 6, 2018.  BBC Report.
“Kenya: High Court upholds a ban on gay sex.”  EG & 7 others v Attorney General; DKM & 9 others Petition 150 & 234 of 2016 (consolidated), decision May 24, 2019  Decision online.    New York Times report.  Activists plan to appeal. Human Rights Watch report.

SCHOLARSHIP:

[abortion law, Brazil, Portuguese and English article]
—— “Constitucionalização do aborto no Brasil: uma análise a partir do caso da gravidez anencefálica,” por Marta Rodriguez de Assis Machado y Rebecca J. Cook. Revista Direito e Práxis, Rio de Janeiro, Vol. 10, N.03, 2019, p. 2239-2295.. DOI: 10.1590/2179-8966/2019/43406    Disponível em Portugues do Brazil.    Resumo en Portugues.

—— “Constitutionalizing abortion in Brazil,” Marta Rodriguez de Assis Machado y Rebecca J. Cook. Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, vol. 5, n. 3, p. 185-231, set./dez. 2018. DOI: 10.5380/rinc.v5i3.60973. Article in English. Abstract and related resources.

[abortion law, Chile] “The misrepresentation of conscientious objection as a new strategy of resistance to abortion decriminalisation,” by Verónica Undurraga and Michelle Sadler, Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters 27.2 (2019):1–3.  Abstract on Reprohealthlaw.   Article online

[abortion law, Croatia]: “Symposium: The 2017 Croatian Constitutional Court’s Abortion Ruling,” International Journal of Constitutional Law Blog (I-CONnect), June 15-18, 2019) includes comments from 3 legal scholars:
—— “Reconciling with the Past, Looking to the Future,” by Prof. Djordje Gardašević  Introduction
—— “A Nominal Win for Reproductive Freedom,” by Prof. Ana Horvat Vuković   Reproductive Freedom.
—— “Finding Common Ground amid Differences in Approach,” by Prof. Sonia Human  Common Ground.

[abortion law, South Korea] “Punishment for Abortion will Vanish from Korea’s Criminal Code: the April 2019 Constitutional Court Decision,” by Professor Hyunah Yang, Seoul National University School of Law  Commentary on Reprohealthlaw.

[USA]:  Reproductive Rights and Justice Stories (Law Stories Series), ed. Melissa Murray, Katherine Shaw, and Reva B. Siegel. Foundation Press, 2019. includes litigation stories behind important cases. Publisher’s summary.   Symposium about the book

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

REPORTS

[Dominican Republic] “I Felt Like the World Was Falling Down on Me,”  Adolescent Girls’ Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the Dominican Republic (New York: Human Rights Watch, June 18, 2019)     Report in English.   en Español

[Honduras]  “Life or Death Choices for Women Living Under Honduras’ Abortion Ban,” (Human Rights Watch, 2019) Report in English.    en Español

[sex education – Canada] Canadian Guidelines for Sexual Health Education (updated edition, SIECAN (Sex Information & Education Council of Canada), May 1, 2019)  Guidelines, in English.  et en Francais.

JOBS

Links to employers in the field of Reproductive and Sexual Health Law are online here.
______________
Compiled by: the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca.   See Program website for our Publications,  Information resources, and Reprohealthlaw Commentaries Series.  TO JOIN THE REPROHEALTHLAW BLOG: enter your email address in the upper right corner of our blog, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – May 2019

SUBSCRIBE TO REPROHEALTHLAW: To receive these updates monthly by email, enter your address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

DEVELOPMENTS:

Argentina: Doctor convicted of obstructing a legal abortion for raped woman, May 21, 2019  Report from Safe Abortion Campaign.

Canada: Ontario: Top Court rules that religious doctors must offer patients an ‘effective referral’ for assisted dying, abortion and birth control.  Report from Safe Abortion Campaign.

South Korean Constitutional Court (Case on the Crime of Abortion) Apr 11, 2019 / Case No. : 2017Hun-Ba127, KCCR) held provisions of “Abortion Prohibition Law” (1953) penalizing women and doctors for abortion are inconsistent with the Constitution.  If these provisions are not amended before Dec 31 2020, the law will be automatically abolished. Court’s own summary in English.   Official translation.    BBC News report.  Abstract and Article (2012) about the law.   Reprohealthlaw Blog comment by South Korean Legal Scholar.

SCHOLARSHIP:

[abortion – Northern Ireland] “Standing and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission,” by Jane M. Rooney,  Modern Law Review 82.3 (May 2019): 525-48.  Abstract and Institutional access to article.

[abortion – South Africa] “International human rights norms and the South African choice on termination of pregnancy act: an argument for vigilance and modernisation,”  Lucía Berro Pizzarossa & Ebenezer Durojaye, South African Journal on Human Rights 35.1 (April 2019): 50-69.  Abstract and Article.

[abortion – South Korea, before 2019 ruling] “Abortion in South Korea: The Law and the Reality, by Woong Kyu Sung,  International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 26(3), (2012), 278–305.  Abstract and Article

The Conscience Wars: Rethinking the Balance between Religion, Identity, and Equality, ed. Susanna Mancini & Michel Rosenfeld (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2018)  Publisher’s website.  Table of Contents with Links.

[Conscience, Italy, ESCR ruling]  “Objection ladies! Taking IPPF-EN v Italy one step further,” by Emmanuelle Bribosia, Ivana Isailovic and Isabelle Rorive, in Integrated Human Rights in Practice-Rewriting Human Rights Decisions, ed. Eva Brems and Ellen Desmet (Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 2017) 261-285. About the book.  Working paper PDF online.

[Conscientious Objection] “Seeking to Square the Circle:  Conscientious objection in Reproductive Healthcare by Emmanuelle Bribosia and Isabelle Rorive, in: Susanna Mancini & Michel Rosenfeld, eds., The Conscience Wars: Rethinking the Balance between Religion, Identity, and Equality,  (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2018)    Institutional Access .  working paper PDF online.

[Sex education] “The Challenges of Girls’ Right to Education: Let’s talk about Human Rights-based Sex education,” by Meghan Campbell, The International Journal of Human Rights, 20.8 (2016): 1219-1243, Online here. 

JOBS

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

______________
Compiled by: the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca.   See Program website for our Publications,  Information resources, and Reprohealthlaw Commentaries Series.
TO JOIN THE REPROHEALTHLAW BLOG: enter your email address in the upper right corner of our blog, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

 

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – March 2019

SUBSCRIBE TO REPROHEALTHLAW: To receive these updates monthly by email, enter your address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

DEVELOPMENTS:

[El Salvador] Supreme Court ordered release of another three women serving 30 years for alleged abortions.  News report, March 7, 2019.   Report from Safe Abortion.

[Germany]  In February 2019, the Bundestag revised the Criminal Code provision that prohibits the so-called “advertising” of abortions. Providers can now publicly announce, e.g. on websites, that they provide abortion care. News report, Feb 21, 2019.

[Isle of Man] In January 2019, the Abortion Reform Act 2019 allows abortion on a woman’s request in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.  Abortion at 15-23 weeks’ gestation in cases of sexual assault, severe fatal impairment, or risk to the woman’s health.  effective May 2019.  Abortion Reform Act 2019.

Kenyan High Court upholds human and constitutional rights to maternal dignity and reproductive healthcare:   J O O (also known as J M) v Attorney General & 6 others [2018] Petition No 5 of 2014, (High Court of Kenya at Bungoma).  March 22, 2017.  Case summary by Naitore Nyamu.     Court decision.    Legal Grounds III online.

Pakistan Court Orders Implementation of Measures to Address Obstetric Fistula
CRR Press Release.

SCHOLARSHIP:

Mahmoud F. Fathalla, “Abortion and Public Health Ethics,” in: The Oxford Handbook of Public Health Ethics, ed.  Anna C. Mastroianni, Jeffrey P. Kahn, and Nancy E. Kass, Oxford Handbooks Online,  February 2019.  Article online.

[abortion law, Argentina]  “Constitutional Dialogues and Abortion Law Reform in Argentina: What’s Next?” by Paola Bergallo, featured on I-CONnect Blog, Feb. 27, 2019.  Article online.

[abortion law, El Salvador] “Restricted abortion law in El Salvador,” by Anibal Faúndes and  Marina Padilla de Gil, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 145.1(April 2019):136. doi: 10.1002/ijgo.12759. Epub 2019 Feb 1. Article online.

[abortion law, Scotland] “Challenging Home Abortion in Scotland: Society for the Protection of Unborn Children v Scottish Ministers,” by Robert Brett Taylor and Adelyn L M Wilson, Edinburgh Law Review 23.1 (Jan 2019): 103-110   Introduction online.

[abortion law – telemedicine, Europe]  “Abortion by telemedicine in the European Union,” by Tamara K. Hervey and Sally Sheldon,  International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 145 (2019): 125–128.  Abstract.  PDF at Wiley Online.

[abortion law – travel] Abortion across Borders:  Transnational Travel and Access to Abortion Services,  ed. Christabelle Sethna and Gayle Davis, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019.  360 pages.  Detailed overview, Author bios, Reviews, and Contents.

[abortion law, United Kingdom]  “UK Abortion Law: Reform Proposals, Private Members’ Bills, Devolution and the Role of the Courts,”  by Robert Brett Taylor and Adelyn L.M. Wilson,  Modern Law Review 82(1) (2019): 71–104.   Abstract and article.

[abortion law, United Kingdom] “The Abortion Act (1967): a biography” by Sally Sheldon , Gayle Davis, Jane O’Neill and Clare Parker,  Legal Studies 39.1 (March 2019): 18-35   Abstract and article.

Conscientious objection and access to abortion in the case CGIL v. Italy, decided by the European Committee of Social Rights, by Sara de Vido,  Hitotsubashi Journal of Law and Politics 47 (2019), pp.45-55.  Abstract and article.

[female circumcision]  “Circumcision, Female,” by Mahmoud F. Fathalla,  Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics, ed. Henk ten Have  (Switzerland: Springer International, 2016)  Abstract and article.   Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics.

[HIV transmission, stigma] “Expert Consensus Statement on the Science of HIV in the Context of Criminal Law” by F. Barré-Sinoussi et al.  Journal of the International AIDS Society  21 (2018): e25161  Expert Consensus Statement.      Overview in JIAS editorial.

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

 

 

 

 

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – February 2019

SUBSCRIBE TO REPROHEALTHLAW: To receive these updates monthly by email, enter your address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

DEVELOPMENTS:

[abortion] Ireland – The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act was signed into law, effective January 1, 2019.  Medical Council also deleted four of the five paragraphs dealing with abortion from its guide on professional conduct and ethics because they conflicted with the Act.  Newspaper article.

[abortion -Northern Ireland] UK Supreme Court had ruled in June ([2018] UKSC 27 (7 June 2018)  On appeal from: [2017] NICA 42)  that violation of European Convention on Human Rights could not be decided without at least one complainant.  On January 30, 2019,  Sara Ewart, who had once travelled for abortion of a fatally impaired fetus, launched a case that could find Northern Ireland’s abortion law in breach of the UK’s human rights commitments. She is supported by Amnesty International.  News article.  Amnesty International press release.

[conscience – institutional] Chile, Constitutional Court upheld an unconstitutionality claim against the government’s new Regulations about the scope of “institutional” conscientious objection for private facilities and clinics.  STC Rol N° 5572-18-CDS / 5650-18-CDS (acumuladas). January 18, 2019.   Spanish decision  English news report.

[conscience]   Norway: Supreme Court upholds rights of doctor who refused to insert IUD.  Two cases: I. Sauherad municipality (Counsel Frode Lauareid) v. A, Norges Kristelige Legeforening (intervener) (Counsel Håkon H. Bleken), II. A, Norges Kristelige Legeforening (intervener) (Counsel Håkon H. Bleken) v. Sauherad municipality (Counsel Frode Lauareid, HR-2018-1958-A (case no. 2018/199), 11 October 2018 (Supreme Court of Norway) Judgment online in English – official translation.      Newspaper article.

[stigma] US:  Vending Machines Offer Emergency Contraception Without the Stigma introduced in 2012, now at several campuses, including Stanford University.   News report.

SCHOLARSHIP:

[abortion access]  Crossing Troubled Waters: Abortion in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Prince Edward Island, ed. Colleen MacQuarrie, Fiona Bloomer, Claire Pierson and Shannon Stettner (Charlottetown, PEI, Canada: Island Studies Press, 2018). 288 pages.      Table of Contents.  Publisher’s web page.

[abortion law]   “Criminal law and the risk of harm: a commentary on the impact of criminal laws on sexual and reproductive health, sexual conduct and key populations,” by Veronica Birga, Luisa Cabal, Lucinda O’Hanlon & Christina Zampas.   Reproductive Health Matters, 26.52 (2018): 33-37 Article online.

[abortion law, Argentina] Federalism, two-level games and the politics of abortion rights implementation in sub-national Argentina, by Alba Ruibal, in Reproductive Health Matters 26:54 (Nov. 2018): 137-144.   Article in English with abstracts in English. French & Spanish.

[abortion law, Argentina] “Legal obstacles and social change: strategies of the abortion rights movement in Argentina,” by Alba Ruibal and Cora Fernandez Anderson, in Politics, Groups and Identity,  preview November 2018, 17 pages.  Institutional access.   Abstract from Safe Abortion.

[abortion law, Argentina]”Federalism and subnational legal mobilization: feminist litigation strategies in Salta, Argentina,” by Alba Ruibal,  Law & Society Review,  32-page preview 29 October 2018. Institutional access.    Abstract from Safe Abortion.

[abortion law – Brazil]  Constitutionalizing Abortion in Brazil, by Marta Machado and Rebecca J. Cook, Revista de Investigações Constitucionais / Journal of Constitutional Research, vol. 5, n. 3 (set./dez. 2018) pp.185-231.  Abstract and Article PDF.   Also at SSRN.

[abortion law – Brazil and Mexico]  “Constitutionalism and rights protection in Mexico and Brazil: comparative remarks,“ by Francisca Pou Giménez, in Revista de Investigações Constitucionais / Journal of Constitutional Research, vol. 5, n. 3 (set./dez. 2018) pp 233-255  Abstract and article PDF.

[abortion law, Dominican Republic]  “It’s Your Decision.  It’s Your Life:  Total criminalization of abortion in the Dominican Republic.”  interviews, plus legal overview and recommendations.  (Human Rights Watch, Nov 19, 2018).   84 pages. English PDF    Spanish PDF.   Online in English.    Overview with 5-minute video.

[abortion law -Ireland]  “Abortion, the Irish Constitution, and constitutional change” by David Kenny, Revista de Investigações Constitucionais / Journal of Constitutional Research, vol. 5, n. 3 (set./dez. 2018) pp. 257-275.   Abstract and Article PDF.

[abortion law, Mexico] “Maternidad o Castigo:  La criminalización del aborto en Mexico,”  (Mexico, GIRE, 2018)  [Report in Spanish:] Informe de 72 paginas.  For executive summary in English, see: Motherhood or Punishment: The criminalization of abortion in Mexico:  English summary.

[abortion law] “Northern Ireland and Abortion Law Reform,” by Kathryn McNeilly, Fiona Bloomer and Claire Pierson,  Queen’s University, Ulster University and University of Liverpool, Sept. 2018, open access, 8 pages.  Briefing Paper.

[adolescents]  “(De)Criminalizing Adolescent Sex: A rights-based assessment of age of consent laws in Eastern and Southern Africa,” by Godfrey Dalitso Kangaude and Ann Skelton, SAGE Open (Oct-Dec 2018): 1 –12.   Article online.   Abstract.

[conscience]  “Objection ladies! Taking IPPF-EN v. Italy one step further, by Emmanuelle Bribosia, Ivana Isailovic and Isabelle  Rorive, in:  Integrated Human Rights in Practice:Rewriting Human Rights Decisions, ed. Eva Brems and Ellen Desmet (Cheltenham, UK:  Elgar, 2018).  Abstract and previous version.

[conscience]  “Religious Refusals and Reproductive Rights,” by Louise Melling, chapter 14 in:  The Conscience Wars: Rethinking the Balance between Religion, Identity, and Equality, ed. Susanna Mancini and Michel Rosenfeld (Cambridge, UK:  Cambridge University Press, 2018)  pp. 375-391.   Institutional Access.

[conscience]  “Seeking to square the circle:  Conscientious objection in Reproductive Healthcare” by Emmanuelle Bribosia and Isabelle  Rorive, chapter 15 in:  The Conscience Wars: Rethinking the Balance between Religion, Identity, and Equality, ed. Susanna Mancini and Michel Rosenfeld (Cambridge, UK:  Cambridge University Press, 2018)  pp. 392-413.  Institutional Access.    Abstract and previous version

 

[gender stereotyping, I.V. v. Bolivia, sterilization]  “The human rights impact of gender stereotyping in the context of reproductive health care,” by Ciara O’Connell and Christina Zampas,  International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 144 (2019):  116–121.  PDF online here.

[maternal health] Impact of reproductive evolutionary mismatch on women’s health and the need for action and research, by Mahmoud F. Fathalla, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 144 (Feb. 2019): 129–134.  Institutional Access.  

[New book] Beyond Virtue and Vice:  Rethinking Human Rights and Criminal Law
ed.  Alice M. Miller and Mindy Jane Roseman,  Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019)  360 pages. Book information.
Intro and chapters 1 and 3 online.
Chapters about abortion law include:
ο    “Abortion as Treason: Sexuality and nationalism in France” by Mindy Jane Roseman
ο    “Criminal Law, Activism and Sexual and Reproductive Justice: What we can learn from the sex selection campaign in India,” by Geetanjali Misra and Vrinda Marwah
ο    “Harm Production: An argument for decriminalization,”  by Joanna N. Erdman

JOBS

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

Senior Vice President, Global Legal Program, Center for Reproductive Rights, New York, USA.    Job details and application form.

______________
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.

 

 

 

 

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – January 2019

SUBSCRIBE TO REPROHEALTHLAW: To receive these updates monthly by email, enter your address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

DEVELOPMENTS

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Legal access to abortion expanded in July 2018, to comply with Article 14 of the (Maputo) Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. “Women can now legally access abortion – in cases of sexual assault, rape or incest, or when the continuing pregnancy would endanger the mental and physical health of the woman or the life of the woman or the fetus.”  Details from Safe Abortion.

El Salvador: Court frees another woman jailed under anti-abortion laws, BBC News (Dec. 18, 2018).   BBC News article

[U.N. Human Rights Committee]  General comment No. 36 (2018) on  article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, on the right to life.” U.N. Doc, CCPR/C/GC/36, October 30, 2018. Advance unedited version.

ABORTION LAW DECISIONS ON THE WEB

Abortion Law Decisions webpages, in English and Spanish, are now updated with new court decisions and alternate links to older decisions. Prepared by our International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, it includes Domestic, Regional and International Jurisprudence.  English edition.   Spanish edition.

SCHOLARSHIP:

[abortion]  “Understandings of self-managed abortion as health inequity, harm reduction and social change,” by Joanna N. Erdman, Kinga Jelinska & Susan Yanow, Reproductive Health Matters 26.54 (Nov. 2018): 13-19.   Abstract and article.

[abortion]  “Re-situating Abortion: Bio-politics, Global Health and Rights in Neo-liberal Times.” Special Issue of Global Public Health 13.6 (2018). Guest Editors: Maya Unnithan and Silvia de Zordo.  Table of Contents with links to articles.

[abortion guidelines – France] “Elective abortion: Clinical practice guidelines from the French College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians (CNGOF)”  Christophe Vayssière et al.,et. al. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology 222 (March 2018): 95–101  Abstract and article.

[abortion law – Malawi] “The Duty to make abortion law transparent:  A Malawi case study,”  by Godfrey Dalitso Kangaude and Chisale Mhango, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 143 (Dec. 2018): 409–413.   PDF at Wiley online.  Submitted text at SSRN.

[abortion law  – Ireland] “A tough job: recognizing access to abortion as a matter of equality. A commentary on the views of the UN Human Rights Committee in the cases of Mellet v. Ireland and Whelan v. Ireland,” by Katarzyna Sękowska-Kozłowska,  Reproductive Health Matters 26.54 (Nov. 2018): 25-31.  Article online.

[abortion law – United Kingdom]  “UK Abortion Law: Reform Proposals, Private Members’ Bills, Devolution and the Role of the Courts,” by Robert Brett Taylor, Adelyn L.M. Wilson, Modern Law Review, 2019  Abstract and article.

[abortion laws – sex selection, India and U.S.] Women’s human rights and migration: sex selective abortion laws in the United States and India, by Sital Kalantry, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017, 272 pp.,  Reviewed in International Feminist Journal of  Politics

[abortion policies database] “Global Abortion Policies Database: a new approach to strengthening knowledge on laws, policies, and human rights standards,” by Brooke Ronald Johnson, Jr., Antonella Francheska Lavelanet and Stephanie Schlitt, BMC International Health and Human Rights 18.35 (Sept 2018): 1-5.  Abstract and article.

[abortion rights – Argentina] “Federalism, two-level games and the politics of abortion rights implementation in subnational Argentina, by Alba Ruibal, Reproductive Health Matters 54 (Nov. 2018): 137-144.  Article online.

[Europe] “Women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights in Europe,” Issue Paper by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (France: Council of Europe, Dec. 2017).  78-page Issue Paper.

[gender stereotypes – judiciary]  “Background paper on the role of the judiciary in addressing the harmful gender stereotypes related to sexual and reproductive health and rights: A review of case law.”  (Geneva: UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, [2018])  in English  and Spanish

“Impact of reproductive evolutionary mismatch on women’s health and the need for action and research,” by Mahmoud F. Fathalla, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 144.2 (Feb. 2019): 129-134 | Abstract and article online.

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

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

 

 

 

 

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – August 2018

SUBSCRIBE TO REPROHEALTHLAW: To receive these updates monthly by email, enter your address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

DEVELOPMENTS:

Argentina:  Abortion Bill approved by Chamber of Deputies June 14, 2018, and narrowly rejected by Senate (38 to 31) August 9, 2018.  26 speakers at hearings July 31, 2018, included Argentine lawyer Mercedes Cavallo, a doctoral student at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law.  Cavallo oral argument (video).  Cavallo editorial.   New York Times article.

Brazil: Supreme Court Considers Decriminalizing Abortion.  Public Hearings held August 3-6, 2018.  New York Times article.

Mexico’s newly elected government announces plan to decriminalize abortion in first trimester, nationwide.   EFE News report.

CALL FOR PAPERS:

“The Impact of Politics on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights,” for publication in Reproductive Health Matters, May 2019.  Submissions due October 31, 2018.
RHM Call for papers

SCHOLARSHIP:

[abortion] “Access to knowledge and the Global Abortion  Policies Database,”  by Joanna N. Erdman and Brooke Ronald Johnson Jr.  International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics  2018; 142: 120–124   PDF – Wiley online.

[abortion law, Latin America] El aborto en América Latina: Estrategias jurídicas para luchar por su legalización y enfrentar las resistencias conservadoras, por Paola Bergallo, Isabel Cristina Jaramillo Sierra y Juan Marco Vaggione, compiladores,  Buenos Aires: Siglo Veintiuno y RED ALAS, 2018. Libro de 482-paginas en linea.

[abortion law] “From Ireland to Northern Ireland: campaigns for abortion law,” by Angel Li,  The Lancet 391 (10138), 16–22 June 2018, Pages 2403-2404.  Article online.

[abortion law] “Abortion law reform: Why ethical intractability and maternal morbidity are grounds for decriminalisation,” by Andrew McGee, Melanie Jansen and Sally Sheldon. ANZJOG,  Article early view online.

[abortion law] “The paradox of access – abortion law, policy and misoprostol” by Karen Marie Moland, Haldis Haukanes, Getnet Tadele, Astrid Blystad, Tidsskriftet den Norske Legeforening 2:23 January 2018, Article online.

[abortion law, Ireland] “Reproductive Justice in Ireland: A Feminist Analysis of the Neary and Halappanavar Cases,” by Joan McCarthy,  in: Mary Donnelly and Claire Murray, eds., Ethical and Legal Debates in Irish Healthcare: Confronting Complexities (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2016).  Book information.    Submitted Text online.

Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies, ed. Rebecca Cook, Joanna Erdman and Bernard Dickens (Philadelphia: Univ. Pennsylvania Press, 2014) 20% discount code is PH70.  Abstracts of 16 chapters.   Spanish edition by FCE/CIDE – 16 abstracts.  Abortion Decisions: Table of Cases in English and Spanish.

[conscientious objection, Mexico] “Abortion and conscientious objection: rethinking conflicting rights in the Mexican context,” by  Gustavo Ortiz-Millán, Global Bioethics 29.1 (2018) 15 pages,  Early view online.

“The Right to Conscience” – An Annotated Bibliography.   (Toronto: International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program,
Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, 2018)  .Conscientious Objection bibliography:  The Right to Conscience

Indications for abortion: new annotated bibliographies:

• Annotated Bibliography on legal aspects of fetal anomaly and their implications for counseling, service delivery and abortion laws and policies (Toronto: International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, 2018).  Fetal anomaly bibliography
• Legal and policy dimensions of rape-related abortion services (Court decisions, Treaty resources, policy guidance and publications. ) (Toronto: International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, 2018).  Rape or Incest bibliography 
  
• Selección de doctrina y jurisprudencia latinoamericanas sobre Causal violación y/o incesto en casos de aborto (Rape or Incest bibliography in Spanish)  (Toronto: El Programa Internacional de Derecho en Salud Sexual y Reproductivas Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Toronto, 2018)

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

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