International migrants’ right to sexual and reproductive health care

Congratulations and thanks to Professor Y.Y. Brandon Chen, a legal scholar who teaches at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law. Professor Chen’s recent article in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics‘ section on Ethical and Legal Issues in Reproductive Health notes that international law protects migrants’ right to access sexual and reproductive health care, so violation of this right by governments will attract condemnation from human rights treaty bodies, such as the UN Human Rights Committee’s 2018 ruling in the case of Toussaint v. Canada. We are pleased to circulate the following abstract.

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

Abstract: International migration puts people’s sexual and reproductive health (SRH), particularly those of women and children, at increased risk. However, many international migrants are denied access to timely and adequate SRH information, goods, and services by governments and/or service providers. This article reviews relevant international human rights treaties to argue that the barriers faced by migrants in accessing SRH care constitute violations of international law. It is well established that migrants are guaranteed access to SRH care as a part of their right to health, as well as the rights enjoyed by vulnerable populations. Increasingly, hindrance of migrants’ access to SRH care is also recognized as a threat to their rights to life and equality with non- migrants. The case of Toussaint v Canada illustrates how governments may be held accountable by human rights treaty monitoring bodies when they fail to respect and fulfill migrants’ right to SRH care.

Keywords: health care access, international migrants, migrant women, non-discrimination, right to life, sexual and reproductive health and rights.

RELATED RESOURCES

“Sexual and reproductive health and rights of refugee and migrant women: gynecologists’ and obstetricians’ responsibilities,” by Margit Endler, T. Al Haidari, S. Chowdhury, J. Christilaw, F. El Kak, D. Galimberti, M. Gutierrez, A. Ramirez-Negrin, H. Senanayake, R. Sohail, M. Temmerman, K. Gemzell Danielsson, (On behalf of the FIGO Committee on Human Rights, Refugees and Violence against women). International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics149.1 (April 2020): 113–119. PDF at Wiley Online.   Submitted Text at SSRN.

Ethical and Legal Issues in Reproductive Health, more than 100 concise articles are online here.

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“The Gender Injustice of Abortion Laws” by Joanna Erdman

Congratulations to Professor Joanna N. Erdman, now Associate Director of the Health Law Institute at the University of Dalhousie, whose commentary was recently published in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (formerly known as Reproductive Health Matters).

Joanna N. Erdman, “The Gender Injustice of Abortion Laws,” Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters 2019; 27(1): 4–8. Abstract and article.

This commentary is a response to Katarzyna Sękowska-Kozłowska’s article on the treatment of criminal abortion laws as a form of sex discrimination under international human rights law through a study of two communications to the UN Human Rights Committee, Mellet v. Ireland and Whelan v. Ireland. The commentary offers a reading of these communications, and specifically the sex discrimination analysis premised on inequalities of treatment among women, as an engagement with the structural discrimination that characterises abortion laws, and as a radical vision for gender justice under international human rights law.

Prof. Erdman concludes that “By focusing on the gender stereotype that anchored the Irish prohibition in Mellet and Whelan, the [UN Human Rights] Committee moved beyond ideas of substantive equality to tackle the structural discrimination that characterises abortion law. These communications are not about comparing women to men, or comparison at all. They concern foremost the use of gender in law to rationalise inequality and injustice. Unconventional in its approach but radical in its vision, the Committee’s engagement with the structural discrimination of the Irish abortion prohibition opens international human rights law to a range of gender injustices. The Committee set out to remake gender from a set of fixed categories and essential identity traits into a source of equality and liberation for all. “Inherent to the principle of … gender equality,” as expressed under CEDAW [Gen Rec 28, para 22], “is the concept that all human beings, regardless of sex, are free to … make choices without the limitations set by stereotypes, rigid gender roles and prejudices.” Mellet and Whelan are important legal precedents for the decriminalisation of abortion as a human rights imperative. Yet they are also case studies in a vision of gender justice under international law.”

Keywords: abortion, discrimination, equality, human rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), United Nations Human Rights Committee.

“The Gender Injustice of Abortion Laws is available online: Abstract and article.

RELATED RESOURCES:
“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.

“Ireland must comply with international human rights obligations, including HRC rulings in Whelan and Mellet cases, by Mercedes Cavallo, LL.M., Reprohealthlaw Blog, January 31, 2018.  Comment online,

Gender Stereotyping: Transnational Legal Perspectives, by Rebecca J. Cook and Simone Cusack (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010) English edition: about the book. Libro en espanol, 2011, PDF.

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REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – Sept 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

[UN – CEDAW and CRPD] “Guaranteeing sexual and reproductive health and rights for all women, in particular women with disabilities,”   Joint statement by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), 29 August 2018.  Decriminalize abortion, repeal discriminatory health policies and abortion laws that perpetuate deep-rooted stereotypes and stigma and undermine women’s reproductive autonomy and choice.    PDF online.

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 law – Brazil]    “Brazilian Supreme Court Public Hearing on the Decriminalization of Abortion:   Antecedents, Contents, Meanings” by Sonia Corrêa  (published by Sexuality Policy Watch, 2018)  27 pages PDF     Direct download.

[abortion law – Brazil]  Testimony by Prof. Rebecca Cook . . .against Unsafe Abortion in the Public Hearing of the Brazilian Supreme Court, caso ADPF 442, Brasilia, August 3, 2018.   English original.    em Portugues do Brasil.   Testimonio – Espanol traducido por CLACAI (Consorcio Latinoamericano contra el aborto inseguro).    Uno otro en Espanol.  

[abortion law – El Salvador] “Physicians’ Challenges under El Salvador’s Criminal Abortion Prohibition,” by Alyson Zureick, Amber Khan, Angeline Chen and Astrid Reyes. forthcoming International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, October2018  Early view PDF.   Submitted text online at SSRN.

[abortion law – Malawi] “The Duty to make abortion law transparent:  A Malawi case study,”  by Godfrey Dalitso Kangaude and Chisale Mhango, forthcoming International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics,     Early view PDF.

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 all 16 chapters.   Spanish edition by FCE/CIDE – 16 abstracts.  Abortion Decisions: Table of Cases in English and Spanish.

[abortion policy] “The Philippines rolls back advancements in the postabortion care policy,” by Melissa Upreti and Jihan Jacob,  International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 142 (August 2018): 255–256.   PDF online.  Submitted text  at SSRN.

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

[Africanness, including sexuality],  What is Africanness?: Contesting nativism in culture, race and sexualities, peer-reviewed book by Charles G. Ngwena (Pretoria University Law Press, 2018) 306 pages.  “Part 3: Heterogeneous Sexualities” – chapter abstracts.    Entire book open access at PULP.     Table of Contents.   Overview, Comments from scholars,  PDFs of all chapters.   Podcast on African Rights Talk (2019) 

[Brazil – obstetric care, maternal mortality /morbidity, Alyne case]  “Implementing international human rights recommendations to improve obstetric care in Brazil,” by Alicia E Yamin, Beatriz Galli and Sandra Valongueiro.   International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 143.1 (October 2018): 114-120    Abstract online in English and Portuguese. English PDF for institutional subscribers.

[CEDAW]”The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women” by Rebecca J. Cook and Cusack, Simone Cusack.  In Tara Van Ho and Nigel Rodley, eds, Research Handbook on Human Rights Institutions and Enforcement (Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, Forthcoming).  Submitted text archived online.

[conscience]  Unconscionable: When Providers Deny Abortion Care  Report of the International Women’s Health Coalition, 2018, based on the first global meeting on the topic of “conscientious objection,” held in Montevideo, Uruguay in August 2017.    8-page report.

[intersex, gender] “Management of intersex newborns: Legal and ethical developments,” by Bernard M. Dickens, forthcoming International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 2018.   Early View PDF.

[self-managed abortion] “Understandings of self-managed abortion as health inequity, harm reduction and social change,” by Joanna N. Erdman, Kinga Jelinska and Susan Yanow. Forthcoming in Reproductive Health Matters. Early view PDF.

[strategic litigation] Seeking Social Change in the Courts: Tools for Strategic Advocacy, by Mónica Roa with Barbara Klugman (Women’s Link Worldwide, 2018) practical tool for advocates from all social justice fields who are interested in using the courts and understanding “strategic litigation”  160 pages, PDF online..

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES:

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

Indications for abortion: new annotated bibliographies:

• Fetal Anomaly:  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
• Rape-related abortion:  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 
  
• Causal Violacion y/o incesto:  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
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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.

 

The Philippines rolls back advances in postabortion care policy

Many thanks to Melissa Upreti and Jihan Jacob for their update on Philippine post-abortion care policy, published in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics.  We are pleased to circulate the reference and abstract:

Melissa Upreti and Jihan Jacob, “The Philippines rolls back advancements in the postabortion care policy,”  International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics August 2018; 142: 255–256.   PDF online.   Submitted text  at SSRN.

Abstract:  In 2018, the Philippines announced a postabortion care policy that rolls back crucial
safeguards aimed at protecting women who seek medical treatment for postabortion
complications from discrimination and abuse. It replaces another policy that was introduce in 2016, following years of advocacy by national and international advocates who were concerned about the mistreatment of women seeking postabortion care due to discriminatory practices in the health system and abortion stigma. The new policy is narrower in scope than the previous policy and reinforces abortion stigma by emphasizing the legal prohibition on abortion, failing to clarify that women seeking postabortion care need not be reported to the authorities, and not recognizing the availability of complaint mechanisms for women who are mistreated. These and other crucial gaps put the new policy at risk of being in violation of ethical standards of medical care and guarantees of human rights.

KEYWORDS
Abortion; Criminal behavior; Discrimination; Ethical standards; Mistreatment of patients;  Philippines policy reform; Postabortion care; Stigma.

Full text:    PDF online.   Submitted text  at SSRN.:

Previous article: “The Philippines’ New Postabortion Care Policy,” by Melissa Upreti and Jihan Jacob.   International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 141.2 (May 2018): 268-275.  PDF at Wiley online.  Submitted text online at SSRN.

RELATED RESOURCES

Publications by Philippine NGOs: EnGendeRights and Pinsan, the Philippine Safe Abortion Advocacy Network  Philippines postabortion care policy resources.

Saving Women’s Lives:   National Policy on the Prevention and Management of Abortion Complications (DOH AO No. 2016-0041)   Frequently Asked Questions, by EnGenderRights and PINSAN, Dec 2017.  Download 36 pages.

Policy Brief: Access to Safe and Legal Abortion and Post-Abortion Care Can Save
Filipino Women’s Lives, by Clara Rita Padilla  (EnGendeRights, December 2016).

Fact Sheets:  “Safe and Legal Abortion Saves Women’s Lives”  by Clara Rita Padilla (EnGendeRights, Dec. 2016):
1.  Public Health Concerns and Social Costs of Lack of Access to Safe and Legal Abortion and Post-Abortion Care.    Fact Sheet 1
2. Liberalizing Abortion Laws Will Save Women’s Lives: Asian, Predominantly Catholic Countries, and Former Spanish colonies Allowing safe and Legal Abortion; The Philippine Constitution Allows Access to Safe and Legal Abortion  Fact Sheet 2.
3. Philippine Constitutional Guarantees, Comparative Law, International and Regional Human Rights Standards Support the Right to Safe and Legal Abortion.  Fact sheet 3.

Ethical and Legal Issues in Reproductive Health – 86+ concise articles published in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics.  Ethical/Legal articles.

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Reproductive Autonomy of Women and Girls under the Disabilities Convention

Congratulations to Prof. Charles Ngwena of the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa, whose valuable article has recently been published in the Ethical and Legal Issues section of the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics. We are pleased to circulate the following abstract:

“Reproductive Autonomy of Women and Girls under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,”  by Prof. Charles Ngwena, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 140.1 (Jan. 2018):128-133.  PDF online for 12 months.          Submitted text at SSRN

Women and girls with disabilities have historically been denied the freedom to make their own choices in matters relating to their reproduction. In the healthcare sector they experience multiple discriminatory practices. Women and girls with intellectual disabilities are particularly vulnerable to coerced or forced medical interventions. The present article considers the contribution the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities makes towards affirming the rights of women and girls with disabilities to enjoy reproductive autonomy, including autonomy related to reproductivehealth, on an equal basis with individuals without disabilities. The Convention is paradigm-setting in its maximal approach to affirming the rights of  individuals with disabilities to make autonomous choices under conditions of equality and non-discrimination.  The Convention is the first human rights treaty to clearly affirm that impairment of decision-making skills is not a justification for depriving a person with cognitive or intellectual disability of legal capacity.

Key words: Abortion; Disability; Equality; Legal capacity; Non-discrimination; Reasonable accommodation; Reproductive autonomy; Reproductive health

The published article is online in PDF at Wiley Library.
Full text, as submitted, is online at SSRN.
Ethical and Legal Issues in Reproductive Health: 80 other concise articles.

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Africa (Nigeria): ECOWAS Court challenges vagrancy laws that target women

Many thanks to Benson Chakaya, an M.Phil candidate in the LL.M./M.Phil (Sexual & Reproductive Rights in Africa) degree program at the Center for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria.  He also serves as National Coordinator for Right Here Right Now Kenya ​hosted by the ​Network for Adolescents and Youth of Africa.  We thank him for abstracting and commenting on the significance of this case:

Dorothy Njemanze & 3 Ors V Federal Republic of Nigeria, Suit No.: ECW/CCJ/APP/17/14  (ECOWAS Court, Abuja, Nigeria)  Decision of October 12, 2017.

Many countries in Africa have criminal law targeting sex workers, often accompanied by administrative law in many cases municipal bylaws against vagrancy that facilitate arbitrary arrests of women at night. Suspected sex workers (in many cases women) are rounded up by law enforcers and charged with non-criminal offenses such as loitering, vagrancy, congregating for the purposes of prostitution, public indecency, or disorderly behavior.  The recent ruling by Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice in the case of Dorothy Njemanze & 3 Ors v. Federal Republic of Nigeria,[1] is significant as it successfully mounts a challenge to vagrancy laws.

On different occasions, Dorothy Njemanze and three other women were abducted, assaulted sexually, physically and verbally, and unlawfully detained by Nigerian law enforcement officers.  They were arrested and accused of being prostitutes on the grounds that they had been found on the streets at night.  The four women, led by Njemanze, a Nollywood actress, filed a case at the West African Regional Court which centered on the violent, cruel, inhuman, degrading and discriminatory treatment the women suffered at the hands of law enforcement agents in Abuja, Nigeria.

The Njemanze case bears some similarities to the Kenyan High Court case of Lucy Nyambura & Another v. Town Clerk, Municipal Council of Mombasa & 2 Others (2011)[2] in that the petitioners in the Kenyan case were also arrested and charged with the offence of “loitering in a public place for immoral purposes,” simply because they were found on the streets at night. The charges essentially criminalize any woman who ventures outdoors after dark. However, in the Kenyan case, the High Court failed to find the action of law enforcers as discriminatory and a violation of the petitioners’ rights.

By contrast, the ECOWAS Court found the arrest of the four petitioners to be unlawful and violated their rights to dignity and liberty, and their right to be free from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The Court affirmed the provisions of the United Nations’ Convention on Elimination All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), when it found that the action of Nigerian law enforcement officers constituted gender-based discrimination. The Court determined from the submissions showing that the operation was systematically directed against only the female gender an indication and evidence of discrimination.   The finding is significant for women because it reiterates State Parties’ obligation and responsibility as codified in CEDAW to adopt laws, administrative and policy measures to prevent gender based discrimination.

According to the Court, “Prostitution is claimed to be a crime in the laws of the Defendant. However, it takes two persons to engage in such criminal activity. There is no law that suggest[s] that when women are seen on the streets at midnight or anytime thereafter, they are necessarily idle persons or prostitutes.  If it were so, it ought to apply to all persons irrespective of sex”.  In this quote, a blow to the discriminatory application of prostitution and vagrancy laws, the Court rejects the narrative, fostering gender inequality, that female commercial sex workers are directly criminally liable, while their male counterparts, if liable at all, can only be so indirectly as accomplices or conspirators. This narrative has often reinforced harmful social prejudices against women.

The judgment also affects commercial sex workers, especially those who work at night. Although the Court did not make a pronouncement on the legality or illegality of commercial sex work, it is significant that it found no crime in women being on the street at night, whether they are sex workers or not.  The Court found the arrest a violation of the Plaintiffs’ right to liberty or free movement which is a fundamental human right.  The Court denounced the gender stereotyping of women found on the street at night as prostitutes and declared that such verbal abuses violated the right of these women to dignity. This denunciation unfortunately perpetuates the stigma that has traditionally been directed against sex workers.

In this context, the Court did not issue a direct order regarding existing laws prohibiting prostitution.  In finding that the Defendant failed to provide sufficient evidence linking the Plaintiffs with prostitution, the Court exposes the difficulty of collecting evidence for the crime of prostitution.  This suggests an opportunity to challenge the law on prostitution in the fact that the law violates the right to privacy.  Given the intimate nature of sex, privacy is a major issue in criminalizing sex work.  Collecting evidence to support sex-work-related charges often involves bedroom snooping and interfering with the privacy of the sex workers and their clients.

A significant milestone that sets the ECOWAS ruling apart is the pronouncement of a violation of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), is indeed a first in an International Court. The Court found that there were multiple violations of article 2 calling on States to combat all forms of discrimination against women, article 3 that provides for the right to dignity and to the recognition and protection of women human and legal rights. There was further violation of article 4 on the Rights to Life, integrity and security of the person, article 5(d) on protection of women from being subjected violence, abuse and intolerance. The denial of access to justice and equal protection before the law and access to remedy was a violation of articles 8 and 25 respectively.

This ruling by the ECOWAS Court is important to judges, lawyers and law scholars as it sets the pace for challenging the often vague vagrancy laws.  By finding the action of the law enforcement officers to have violated fundamental human rights, the Court in other words has questioned the legality of vagrancy laws.  The ruling by ECOWAS Court, therefore, piles more pressure on African States to repeal the overly vague and overbroad vagrancy laws that harass and abuse women, including female sex workers. Already, the CEDAW Committee has called upon States Parties to take appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress exploitation of women in sex work.   Overall, the ECOWAS Court’s ruling is a clear call to these States to respect fundamental rights of women to liberty, dignity and self-determination.

[1] Dorothy Njemanze & 3 Ors V Federal Republic of Nigeria: SUIT NO: ECW/CCJ/APP/17/14  (ECOWAS Court, Abuja, Nigeria)  Decision of October 12, 2017.

[2] Lucy Nyambura & Another v. Town Clerk, Municipal Council of Mombasa & 2 Others [2011] eKLR, Petition No. 286 of 2009 Kenya, High Court. Decision online.
Case summary and analysis for Legal Grounds III

Other African cases, summarized online: 
Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts  (Pretoria, Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), 2017), and previous volumes.
Printed edition of Legal Grounds III available from PULP.
Previous volumes PDF online at CRR.
Legal Grounds III, online edition with updates and links to decisions.

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South Africa: Expulsion of pregnant students violated constitutional rights

Many thanks to Godfrey Kangaude, LL.M. (UFS), LL.M. (UCLA), an LL.D. candidate at the University of Pretoria and Executive Director of Nyale Institute for Sexual and Reproductive Health Governance in Malawi, for summarizing this decision with Y. Kakhobwe in Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts, published by Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) in 2017.  228-pages online     Flyer with Table of Contents.     New online edition with links to decisions and analyses.

Head of Department, Department of Education, Free State Province v. Welkom High School & another;  Head of Department, Department of Education, Free State Province v. Harmony High School & another (CCT 103/12) [2013] ZACC 25, 2013 (9) BCLR 989(CC); 2014 (2) SA 228 (CC) (10 July 2013)   Constitutional Court of South Africa  Decision online.    Case summary by G. Kangaude and Y. Kakhobwe.

Two South African high schools had adopted policies that provided for automatic

exclusion of any student from school if it is found that she is pregnant. When in two separate instances the schools applied the policies to pregnant students, the Head of the provincial department of education intervened in the decisions of the school’s governing bodies and ordered them to ignore the pregnancy policy and reinstate the students. The respondents took the matter to the High Court which ruled that this official had no authority to tell the principals not to implement their adopted policy.  The

Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s decision.  The Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled that if school policies were unconstitutional, as these were, the Head of the provincial education department should have intervened, using the proper mechanisms provided by the Schools Act.

The Constitutional Court opined that these pregnancy policies prima facie violated constitutional principles, and violations should be addressed by the scheme of powers under the School Act.  The Court held that, first, the policies unjustifiably discriminated on the basis of pregnancy and sex.  Second, the policies limited the right to education by requiring that the student repeat an entire year.  Third, the policies prima facie violated students’ rights to human dignity, privacy, and bodily and psychological integrity by requiring them to report their own pregnancy or that of others.  Finally, the policies violated the best interests of the child because they failed to take into account the health and other needs of the pregnant student.

The Court did not make a declaration on the constitutional validity of the pregnancy policies since this issue was not placed properly before it, and also because the Court respected the scheme of powers in the School Act. However, the Court ordered the school governing boards to review their pregnancy policies.

The Court’s opinion follows several older African judgments such as Student Representative Council of Molepolole College of Education v. Attorney General [1995] (3) LRC 447), where the Botswana Court of Appeal held that a regulation that required a student to report pregnancy to the authorities, and would be obliged to leave the College or be expelled if this was a second occurrence, was unconstitutional as it was discriminatory on the basis of sex. Similarly, in Mfolo and Others v. Minister of Education,  [1992] (3) LRC 181,Bophuthatswana (South Africa, Supreme Court, Bophuthatswana and General Division), and in Lloyd Chaduka and Morgenster College v. Enita Mandizvidza, Judgment No. SC 114/2001; Civil Appeal No. 298/2000 (Zimbabwe, Supreme Court),   two African Supreme Courts held that regulations that required pregnant students to withdraw from college were unconstitutional.

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Involuntary Sterilization of HIV-Positive Women as Intersectional Discrimination

Congratulations to Dr. Ronli Sifris of Monash University’s Faculty of Law, whose forthcoming article in Human Rights Quarterly is already available online through SSRN:

Involuntary Sterilization of HIV-Positive Women:
An Example of Intersectional Discrimination

forthcoming in (2015) 37(2) Human Rights Quarterly

This article considers the involuntary sterilization of HIV-positive women through the lens of intersectional discrimination. It begins by examining the international human right to be free from discrimination before considering involuntary sterilization as a form of discrimination against women. The article then draws on the example of the involuntary sterilization of HIV-positive women to make the point that, in order to truly understand the insidious nature of involuntary sterilization, it must be viewed through the prism of intersectional discrimination.

The full text is online through SSRN.

 

COURTS, CALLS, RESOURCES & NEWS

REPROHEALTHLAW listserv
December 9, 2011

COURT DECISIONS

Canada: B.C. Polygamy — Supreme Court of British Columbia decision is a resounding affirmation of the need for a criminal prohibition on polygamy.  Reference case re Section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada. 2011 BCSC 1588. Newspaper coverage.  Decision online. 

European Court of Human Rights: R.R. v. Poland decision (pregnant woman denied access to genetic testing of abnormal fetus) is now final.  A panel of five judges of the Grand Chamber decided not to accept the Government’s request that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber. Pursuant to Art 44 s. 2 of the Convention, the judgment of 26 May 2011 therefore became final on 28 November 2011. Decision online.

New case: European Court of Human Rights: Gauer v France: Forced sterilisation of 5 women with intellectual disabilities without informed consent and against their wishes.  News article.  Interights summary.

European Court of Justice bans patents based on embryonic stem cells  News article.    Decision online (Oct 18, 2011).   Background case: Brüstle v. Greenpeace, CJEU, Opinion of the Advocate General, 10 March 2011 

Legal commentaries on past decisions and developments are online here. 

CALLS

Gender Justice Uncovered Awards: nominations open Nov 15 2011-April 30, 2012. Submit the worst and best judicial statements on gender rights. These annual awards  reward gold, silver and bronze “gavels” to judicial pronouncements or decisions which promote gender equity, and gives gold, silver and bronze “bludgeons” to the most sexist and regressive decisions http://www.womenslinkworldwide.org/wlw/new.php?modo=detalle_prensa&dc=331 Contributions become part of the Gender Justice Observatory database, online here.

United Nations -OHCHR – Request for input – Technical guidance tools – Reducing preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, deadline Dec 15, 2011.  More info.

“Calls for Proposals re funding re sexual/repro health/rights projects offered by the European Union. E-neus ¬Nov 28 edition.  now online.

FELLOWSHIPS, EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

Canada – Health Law, Ethics and Policy Fellowships for LL.M. or doctoral study at one of 4 Canadian law schools, now accepting applications from Canadian and international LLM or doctoral applicants.  Admission info.   Brochure.   Website.

Health Rights Litigation course, Global School on Judicial Enforcement of Economic, Social, and Cultural (ESC) Rights, offered by The Health Rights of Women and Children Program at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, June 18-22 2012 in Boston, MA, USA.  More info. 

 South Africa – Fellowship: Access to Justice- Past and Present: Promoting Access to Justice for the Marginalised and Vulnerable Groups. Call for Internal and External Participants. Centre for Criminal Justice, University of KwaZulu Natal, RSA Closing date: February 5, 2012.  More info

RESOURCES:

[abortion, Ireland] – U.N. Committee against Torture: Concluding observations on Ireland’s initial report – download here.
—Ireland Must Ensure Access to Lawful Abortion.  CRR press release

[abortion, Kenyan constitution, US] Foreign Assistance: Clearer Guidance Needed on Compliance Overseas with Legislation Prohibiting Abortion-Related Lobbying GAO-12-35 October 13, 2011.   SSRN article

[abortion, Latin America, book in Spanish] Aborto y Justicia Reproductiva: contextos, modelos regulatorios y argumentos para su debate, comp. Paola Bergallo. Editorial Editores del Puerto
 2011.  528 paginas.   book info in Spanish,

[abortion, personhood] On Abortion and Defining a ‘Person’ Op-ed By Gary Gutting, philosophy professor at University of Notre Dame.  health blog.

 [abortion, Poland] Stigmatisation and Commercialisation of Abortion Services in Poland: Turning Sin into Gold, Agata Chelstowska, Reproductive Health Matters, 19.37, pp. 98-106, 2011. SSRN article

[access to medicines, patents] ACTA – Risks of Third-Party Enforcement for Access to Medicines by Brook K. Baker, American University International Law Review, Vol. 26, No. 3, 2011.  SSRN article

[access to medicines, patents] Abbott, Frederick M., Intellectual Property and Public Health: Meeting the Challenge of Sustainability by Frederick M. Abbott, working paper, Nov 2011.  SSRN article 

 [assisted repro] Rethinking Sperm-Donor Anonymity: Of Changed Selves, Non-Identity, and One-Night Stands by Glenn I. Cohen, Georgetown Law Journal.  SSRN article 

 [assisted repro] Regulating Reproduction: The Problem with Best Interests, by I. Glenn Cohen. Minnesota Law Review, Vol. 96, p. 101, 2011.  Article

[assisted repro, Israel ] Egg freezing for non-medical uses: the lack of a relational approach to autonomy in the new Israeli policy and in academic discussion, Journal of Medical Ethics. Article

[cross-border] Circumvention Tourism, by I. Glenn Cohen, Cornell Law Review, Vol. 97, 2012. SSRN article

“Cross-Border Reproductive Care”  Reproductive Biomedicine Online, Vol. 23.  Symposium Issue

[assisted repro] Cross-border assisted reproduction care in Asia: implications for access, equity and regulations, by Andrea Whittaker, Reproductive Health Matters 19.37 (May 2011): abstract/press release.  Article .

[discrimination in access] Multiple Discrimination in Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health: Experiences from Latin America and the Caribbean, by Ximena Casas,  65 U. Miami L. Rev. 955.
proofs online.

[discrimination] European Commission: Compendium of practice on NonDiscrimination/Equality Mainstreaming- now in English, soon in German & French, 64 pp.   Publication

[discrimination] The Reflection of the Non-Discrimination Principle in ECHR Jurisprudence, by Roxana Alina Petraru, working paper.

[discrimination] Structures of Discrimination, by Rebecca J. Cook Macalester International Journal, Vol. 28, pp. 33-60, Spring 2011.  Article.

European Portal for Action on Health Inequalities.  Portal.

Gender Stereotyping: Transnational Legal Perspectives, by Rebecca Cook and Simone Cusack, U Penn Press, 2010. English paperback edition -cite 20% discount code: 0B1.  Now available:  Spanish edition (2011)

HIV Testing of Pregnant Women: An Ethical Analysis, by Kjell Arne Johansson et al. 11.3 Developing World Bioethics 109-119 (Dec 2011)  Article

[India – surrogacy] ‘You Can Use My Uterus’- New Horizons of Law Relating to Surrogacy, by Preeti Chaturvedi, Preeti et al.  Working paper

[infanticide] Murder, Medicine and Motherhood, by Emma Cunliffe. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2011. Book info 

[Latin America] Sexual and reproductive health and rights in Latin America: an analysis of trends, commitments and achievements, by Emma Richardson & Anne-Emanuelle Birn, Reproductive Health Matters. 2011 Nov;19.38:183-96.  Article.   

Litigating Health Rights: Can Courts Bring More Justice to Health? Ed. Alicia Ely Yamin & Siri Gloppen, Contributors: Paola Bergallo, Octavio Luiz Motta Ferraz, Roberto Gargarella, Ottar Maestad, Ole Fritjof Norheim, Sharanjeet Parmar, Oscar Parra-Vera, Lise Rakner, Mindy Jane Roseman, Namita Wahi, Bruce M. Wilson Harvard University Press, Sept 2011.   Book info

Marriage and Divorce in a Multicultural Context: Multi-Tiered Marriage and the Boundaries of Civil Law and Religion, ed. Joel A. Nichols, Cambridge University Press, 2012; [interdisciplinary and international in scope] Table of Contents and Introduction online at SSRN

Maternal Pedagogies: In and Outside the Classroom edited by Deborah L. Byrd and Fiona J. Green.Demeter Press, 2011 15 North American scholars theorize about how cultural views of motherhood and personal experiences of mothering affect the processes of teaching and learning.  Book info

[prostitution, sex work] How to Argue About Prostitution, by Michelle Madden Dempsey. Criminal Law & Philosophy, 2011.  SSRN article

Repoliticizing sexual and reproductive health and rights.  Report of a global meeting, Langkawi, Malaysia, 3-6 August 2010, (published by Reproductive Health Matters and ARROW, 2011).  Report covers macroeconomic influences on health, public health education, essential medicines for SRH, human rights, funding policies and influences on the global agenda on the part of those in power. 74 pages.  Report online
or email Pathika Martin for a print copy.

Reproductive Health Matters, Nov 2011  issue, “Repoliticising sexual and reproductive health and rights”  is now online.  Table of Contents

[Russia] Jon O’Brien comments on recent erosion of reproductive rights for Russians   Op-ed article

[same-sex marriage] The Impacts on Education and Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage and Lessons from Abortion Jurisprudence, by Lynn D. Wardle. Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal, Vol. 2011, No. 2.  SSRN online

Sex Selection Abortion in Kazakhstan: Understanding a Cultural Justification. Developing World Bioethics 11 (3):154-160.   Article

[sex-trafficking] Labelling the Victims of Sex Trafficking: Exploring the Borderland between Rhetoric and Reality, by Michelle Madden Dempsey et al. Social & Legal Studies, Vol. 20, No. 3, p. 313, 2011.  SSRN online here 

[sex-trafficking] Researching Trafficked Women: On Institutional Resistance and the Limits to Feminist Reflexivity by Michelle Madden Dempsey et al., Qualitative Inquiry, Vol. 17, p. 769, 2011.  SSRN online here

[sex-trafficking] Widening Our Lens: Incorporating Essential Perspectives in the Fight Against Human Trafficking, by Jonathan Todres, Michigan Journal of International Law, Vol. 33, pp. 53-76, 2011. SSRN online here

Sexual and Reproductive Health: A Public Health Perspective, edited by Paul F.A. Van Look, H. Kristian Heggenhougen and Stella R. Quah. Academic Press, 2011. Includes article on Reproductive Rights by Joanna Erdman and Rebecca Cook.  Book info.

Surrogacy for the Single, Gay Man, by Tawia B. Ansah & Sharona Hoffman. Health Matrix: Journal of Law-Medicine, 22.1, 2012. SSRN abstract article

US: Reproductive Rights Prof Blog provides US-focused scholarship and news.  Subscribe here:
NEWS

Africa: New “Integration” Partnership Merges Education, HIV, Reproductive Health for Young in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania аnd Zambia. IPPF news item.

[Argentina, update on campaign] For The Right To Legal, Safe And Free Abortion. AWID news analysis 

[Chile] Constitutional Court rejects gay marriage appeal However bill now moving through legislature that regulates de facto unions, including same-sex.  News article

[homosexuality] Global campaign to decriminalise homosexuality to kick off in Belize court. News article

[Mexico, abortion] Mifepristone registered in Mexico.  Ipas news

Nigeria: ‘Same Gender’ Marriage Ban Would Attack Rights Bill Would Invade Privacy, Threaten Broad Range of Activists – Human Rights Watch news 

Pakistan – “Anti-Women Practices Bill” passes Lower House – (to protect women against forced marriage, denial of inheritance).  video report

[surrogacy] South African court sets out guidelines for surrogacy arrangements.  News article

UK: Chair of British HIV Association criticizes law stopping visitors and asylum seekers from getting HIV drugs. News article  

UK pledges £35m for family planning for poor countries.  News article

UK Supreme Court upholds gene patent –for no specific use.  Bionews item.   AMRC policy blog

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Structures of Discrimination

Congratulations to Rebecca Cook, Co-Director of our International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Programme, whose keynote speech at the international symposium held in October 2010 at Macalester College was recently published, and is now online at SSRN here.  

STRUCTURES OF DISCRIMINATION

by Rebecca J. Cook
Macalester International Journal, Vol. 28, pp. 33-60, Spring 2011

This essay argues that, in order for women and men to be fully equal, we need to understand the structures of discrimination; that is, the forms of the subordination that are deeply rooted in how we stereotype women and men in ways that deny them benefits or impose burdens. The essay explores how gender stereotypes have contributed to: the failure of the criminal justice system to investigate the disappearances of young women; women�s unequal access to reproductive health services; and discrimination in polygamous family structures.

Conditions for stratification and subordination of women exist when wrongful gender stereotypes are socially pervasive across sectors, and persistent over time. In understanding how restrictive stereotypes of women are pervasive and persistent in criminal law, health law and family law, one is better equipped to dismantle structures of discrimination more generally.

The complete text of this article  is now available in PDF format through SSRN.  Article on SSRN

Rebecca Cook recently co-authored Gender Stereotyping: Transnational Legal Perspectives, with Simone Cusack, published in English by University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010, and in Spanish by Profamilia.  More info on English edition.    Spanish edition.