REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – April/May 2020

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

DEVELOPMENTS
[Ecuador] Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Caso Guzmán Albarracín y otros Vs. Ecuador. Decision (January 27 2020) against sexual abuse in educational system. Decision online. 8-hour Public hearing, Jan. 28, 2020.  Guardian newspaper report  

CASEBOOKS
[India] Securing Reproductive Justice in India: A Casebook, ed. Mrinal Satish, Aparna Chandra, and Payal K. Shah, (New York: Center for Reproductive Rights, 2019) 520-page book/chapters online.

[United States] Feminist Judgments: Reproductive Justice Rewritten, ed. Kimberly Mutcherson, Feminist Judgment Series: Rewritten Judicial Opinions. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020). Institutional access.

SCHOLARSHIP
“Abortion in the context of COVID-19: a human rights imperative,” by Jaime Todd-Gher & Payal K Shah (2020) Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 28.1 Article online.

[abortion, India] “Reimagining Reproductive Rights Jurisprudence in India: Reflections on the Recent Decisions on Privacy and Gender Equality from the Supreme Court of India,” by Dipika Jain and Payal Shah. Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, 39.2(2020), 1-53. Article online.

[abortion, U.K.] “Decriminalising Abortion in the UK- What Would It Mean?” ed. Sally Sheldon and Kaye Wellings. (Bristol: Policy Press, March 23, 2020) 112 pages, Open Access book.

[abortion laws: Uruguay, South Africa] “Abortion, health and gender stereotypes: a critical analysis of the Uruguayan and South African abortion laws through the lens of human rights,” by Lucia Berro Pizzarossa, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Groningen, 2019. 304 pages. Complete thesis. Abstract.

[conscience, Europe] “Conscientious Objection under the European Convention on Human Rights: The Ugly Duckling of a Flightless Jurisprudence,” by Stijn Smet, in The European Court of Human Rights and the Freedom of Religion or Belief: The 25 Years since Kokkinakis, ed. Jeroen Temperman, T. Jeremy Gunn and Malcolm D. Evans (Brill, 2019) 282–306. Institutional access.

[conscience, Italy] “The impact of gynecologists’ conscientious objection on abortion access,” by Tommaso Autorino, Francesco Mattioli e Letizia Mencarini,  Social Science Research 87 (March, 2020): 102403  16-pages, Institutional access.

Conscientious Objection / The Right to Conscience – annotated bibliography, updated March 17, 2020. Download here.

Human Rights Quarterly is freely available online during the COVID-19 pandemic.  All issues.

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

WEBINAR:
“COVID-19: What implications for SRHR globally?” by Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, webinar March 27, 2020. 100-minute video.

JOBS
University of Toronto, Faculty of Law @UTLaw seeks new Director, International Human Rights Program. Apply by June 17, 2020. Details and application information.

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.

European Court dismisses Swedish midwife’s complaint

Many thanks to Bernard M. Dickens, Professor Emeritus of Health Law and Policy at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, for abstracting the main issue decided by the European Court of Human Rights.

Grimmark v. Sweden,   App. No. 43726/17, European Court of Human Rights. (2020)  Decision of March 12, 2020.  Backup copy.

This decision on conscientious objection addressed a complaint against Sweden by Elinor Grimmark, a woman who had qualified as a midwife, but was denied employment as such. Because of her religious convictions, she refused to perform medical (i.e. non-surgical) abortions, but was willing to care for women requesting the procedure. In seeking employment, she disclosed her objection, which she claimed had resulted in positions being withheld or withdrawn from her, in violation of her right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion under Article 9(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 9(2) of this Convention sets limits on manifestation of religion or belief when necessary for the protection, among other interests, of the rights and freedoms of others.

Employment laws may require employers’ reasonable accommodation of employees’ conscientious objection, but Swedish law allows employers to require employees to perform all tasks naturally falling within the scope of their employment. This includes requiring midwives to perform medical abortions. Exemption for one midwife would unfairly burden another. The Court noted that Sweden provides nationwide accessible abortion services.

The Court’s task was to determine whether measures taken in Sweden, by its Discrimination Ombudsman and its Labour Court, both of which had found no violation of the complainant’s Article 9 rights, were proportionate to the interests at stake. The Court echoed its previous language on abortion services, in R.R. v. Poland (2011), that a state is obliged “to organize its health system in a way as to ensure that the effective exercise of freedom of conscience by health professionals in the professional context does not prevent the provision of such services” (para.26). The Court accordingly found that any infringement of the complainant’s freedom of religion did not violate Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
______
The European Court’s 9-page decision is online here:
Decision of March 12, 2020.   Backup copy.

Related Resources:
“The Right to Conscience,” by Bernard M. Dickens, in: Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies, ed. Rebecca J. Cook, Joanna N. Erdman, and Bernard M. Dickens (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014) pp. 210-238, 425-429n. Abstract online. About the book in English y en español.

Conscientious Objection / The Right to Conscience – annotated bibliography, updated March 17, 2020.
______________
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 – April 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:

[Australia] High Court upholds safe access zones near abortion clinics. High Court of Australia,  Kathleen Clubb v Alyce Edwards & Anor;  John Graham Preston v. Elizabeth Avery & Anor,  [2019] HCA 11,  Judgment of April 10, 2019. Decision online.    High Court Press Release.  Summary and comment by Adrianne Walters, Senior Lawyer.

[Canada] Ministry of Health ruling: Doctors can now prescribe abortion pills without preliminary ultrasound.  Health Canada press release, April 16, 2019.  Safe Abortion Campaign report.

[Rwanda]  Ministry of Health ruling: Abortion approval requirement is reduced to one medical doctor. Ministerial Order N°002/MoH/2019 issued April 8, 2019. Details of Ministerial order. Rwandan newspaper.  In addition, 367 women imprisoned for having or assisting abortion / infanticide were also released by presidential pardon, April 5, 2019.  Safe Abortion report.   Guardian news report.

[South Korea] Constitutional Court ordered government to decriminalize abortion within 20 weeks of gestation by Dec 31, 2020.  An indicted doctor had petitioned against the law.  New York Times report, April 11, 2019. Amicus curiae submission by UN Working Group.

SCHOLARSHIP:

“Abortion, the Disabilities of Pregnancy, and the Dignity of Risk,” by Mary Anne Case, U of Chicago, Public Law Working Paper No. 705 (2019)  Working paper.

[abortion] “Abortion, law reform and the context of decision-making,” by Heather Douglas and Katherine Kerr [Australia],  Griffith Law Review 25.1 (2016) 129-145
Review Essay, discusses 3 books.:
—-Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective (Cook Erdman & Dickens);
—-Law, Policy and Reproductive Autonomy (Erin Nelson) ;
—-Reproductive Freedom, Torture, and International Human Rights (Ronli Sifris)

[Australia, Northern Territory] “A Reproductive Rights Framework Supporting Law Reform on Termination of Pregnancy in the Northern Territory of Australia
by Suzanne Belton, Felicity Gerry, and Virginia Stulz, Griffith Journal of Law and Human Dignity 6.2 (2018): 25-53. Abstract and Article.

[abortion, Northern Ireland]  “Abortion in Northern Ireland and the European Convention on Human Rights: Reflections from the UK Supreme Court,” by Bríd Ní Ghráinne  and Aisling McMahon, International & Comparative Law Quarterly 68.2(Apr 2019): 477-494.  Abstract and Article.  also on SSRN.

[abortion, Uruguay] “Legal barriers to access abortion services through a human rights lens: the Uruguayan experience,” by Lucía Berro Pizzarossa, Reproductive Health Matters 26:52(2018): 151-158.  Abstract and article.

[abortion, stereotyping, Uruguay]   ‘“Women are Not in the Best Position to Make These Decisions by Themselves”: Gender Stereotypes in the Uruguayan Abortion Law’ by Lucía Berro Pizzarossa University of Oxford Human Rights Hub Journal 1 (2019): 25-54.  Abstract and article.

[conscience]  ‘Right of freedom of conscience is not absolute’, by Joan McCarthy, Nursing in General Practice, 12.1(2018): 27-28.  Abstract and article.

“Female genital mutilation/cutting in Africa: A complex legal and ethical landscape,”  by Satang Nabaneh and Adamson S. Muula, InternationalJournal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 2019; 145: 253–257,  PDF at Wiley Online.   Submitted text at SSRN.

[human rights and criminal law] 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.  It includes:
——   Abortion as treason: Sexuality and Nationalism in France, by Mindy Jane Roseman, 158-170.
——   Harm Production: An Argument for Decriminalization, by Joanna N. Erdman, 248-268.    Book abstract and information.    Intro and excerpts from pp. 3-55 online.

[medical abortion access] “Realising the right to sexual and reproductive health: Access to essential medicines for medical abortion as a core obligation.” by Katrina Perehudoff, Lucía Berro Pizzarossa and Jelle Stekelenburg, BMC International Health and Human Rights, 18.1 (2018) [8 pages]. Article online.

[reproductive rights] “Here to Stay: The Evolution of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in International Human Rights Law,” by Lucía Berro Pizzarossa,  Laws 7.3 (2018): 1-17. Open Access Article.

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.

 

 

 

 

Mandatory Waiting Periods and Biased Abortion Counseling in Central and Eastern Europe

Congratulations to Leah Hoctor and Adriana Lamačková of the Centre for Reproductive Rights, whose article has just been published in the Ethical and Legal Issues section of the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics.  The article addresses the recent retrogressive introduction of mandatory waiting periods and biased counseling and information requirements prior to abortion in Central and Eastern Europe.

Leah Hoctor and Adriana Lamačková,  Mandatory Waiting Periods and Biased Abortion Counseling in Central and Eastern Europe (2017). International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 139 (Nov. 2017): 253–258. 
PDF at Wiley Online Library.    Submitted text online at SSRN.

A number of Central and Eastern European countries have recently enacted retrogressive laws and policies introducing new pre-conditions that women must fulfill before they can obtain legal abortion services. Mandatory waiting periods and biased counseling and information requirements are particularly common examples of these new prerequisites. This article considers these requirements in light of international human rights standards and public health guidelines, and outlines the manner in which, by imposing regressive barriers on women’s access to legal abortion services, these new laws and policies undermine women’s health and well-being, fail to respect women’s human rights, and reinforce harmful gender stereotypes and abortion stigma.

Key words: Abortion; Abortion counseling; Central and Eastern Europe; Discrimination; Human rights; Informed consent; Waiting periods

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.

---

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 – December 2016

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

African LGBT advocacy rulings, 2014-2016   Overview by Godfrey Kangaude
—-[Botswana] Attorney General of Botswana v. Thuto Rammoge & 19 Others  [2016] CACGB-128-14 (Botswana, Court of Appeal at Gaborone).  [Appeal against LGBT organization registration dismissed]   Decision online.  Case summary for Legal Grounds III.
—-[Kenya] Eric Gitari v. Non-Governmental Organizations Co-Ordination Board & 4 Others, [2015] eKLR, Petition No. 440 of 2013  (Kenya, High Court at Nairobi).  [LGBT organizations can be registered.]  Decision online.   Case summary and analysis for Legal Grounds III.
—-[Kenya] Republic v. Non-Governmental Organizations Co-ordination Board & another ex-parte Transgender Education and Advocacy & 3 Others [2014] eKLR, JR Miscellaneous Application No. 308a of 2013 (Kenya, High Court). [Transgender organization can be registered].   Decision online.  Case summary and analysis for Legal Grounds III.
—-[Zambia] People v. Paul Kasonkomona [2015] HPA/53/2014  (Zambia, High Court).[Freedom of expression: HIV/LGBT activist acquitted for remarks made on television.]   Decisions and documents online.  Case summary and analysis for Legal Grounds III.

[Belize – homosexuality]:  Caleb Orozco v Attorney General of Belize et al., Claim No. 668 of 2010 (Supreme Court of Belize)  August 10, 2016. [First-ever successful court challenge to a Caribbean anti-sodomy law.]   38-page Judgment online.   News report.  Government won’t appeal ruling.   Press release by Caleb Orozco of UNIBAM.

[Brazil – abortion]  Habeas Corpus n. 124.306 – judged by 1^st Panel of the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court on November 29, 2016.  Summary in English by Marta Machado.   Sexuality Policy Watch comment.  English news report.  Summary in Portuguese.     Leading vote by Judge Luis Roberto Barroso in Portuguese.  Comment in Portuguese by Debora Diniz

[Brazil – zika]  Direct Action of Unconstitutionality  n. 5581 (Supreme Court of Brazil).  Zika abortion decision  delayed until early 2017.  Summary of the claim in Portuguese.

[Chile – obstetric violence against prisoner]  Lorenza Cayuhán Llebul s/amparo, Rol 92.795-2010 (Supreme Court of Chile). December 1, 2016.    Decision online in Spanish.     English summary by Carlos Herrera.

[Kenya – homosexuality] C.O.L. & G.M.N. v. Resident Magistrate Kwale Court & Others, Petition No. 51 of 2015 (Kenya, High Court –Constitutional and Judicial Review Division).  [Court allowed medical examinations including anal examinations to prove crime of homosexuality].  Decision online.     Case summary and analysis for Legal Grounds III.

[South Africa: surrogacy]  AB and Another v Minister of Social Development (CCT155/15) [2016] ZACC 43 (29 November 2016)  Constitutional Court of South Africa.  [At least one parent must donate sperm or eggs for a surrogacy agreement to be legal in South Africa]  Decision online.    News Report

SCHOLARSHIP

[abortion, health rights] “Adjudicating Health-Related Rights: Proposed Considerations for the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and Other Supra-National Tribunals,” by Alicia Ely Yamin and Angela Duger, Chicago Journal of International Law 17.1 (Summer 2016): 80-120.  Abstract and Article.

[Brazil] – [Zika: from Brazilian backlands to global threat] Zika: Do Sertão nordestino à ameaça global  by  Debora Diniz  (Rio de Janeiro:  Civilização Brasileira, 2016).  Forthcoming in English from Zed Books in September 2017, this book analyses scientific discoveries regarding Zika in Brazil as well as the impact of the epidemic on poor black and brown women’s lives.  Portuguese: Book or e-book.  Sinopse.  A história contada.
—Related resources in English:”The Zika Virus and Brazilian Women’s Right to Choose,” op/ed by Debora Diniz, February 8, 2016.  New York Times editorial.  “Zika”  30 minute April 2016 documentary with English subtitles;  “Zika: More than a health issue“ (Dec 1, 2016)   53-minute  TV interview with English subtitles.  “Zika emergency pushes women to challenge Brazilian abortion law”  Guardian news report.

[Brazil – abortion law] “Social Movements and Constitutional Politics in Latin America: Reconfiguring Alliances, Framings and Legal Opportunities in the Judicialization of Abortion Rights in Brazil” by Alba Ruibal. Contemporary Social Science 10:4 (October 18, 2016): 375-385. Abstract and article.   Other articles on strategic litigation in Latin America.

[Canada – mifepristone]  “Requiring physicians to dispense mifepristone:  an unnecessary limit on safety and access to medical abortion,” by Wendy V. Norman and Judith A. Soon, forthcoming in Canadian Medical Association Journal, Early release October 18, 2016 to institutional subscribers.   Summarized in “Abortion pill dispensing by doctors and not pharmacists could hinder access … [and] entrench inequity” CBC News report.

[obstetric violence] International Human Rights and the Mistreatment of Women during Childbirth, by Rajat Khosla, Christina Zampas, Joshua P. Vogel, Meghan A. Bohren, Mindy Roseman, and Joanna N. Erdman.  Health and Human Rights Journal (in press)  Abstract and Full Text.

[reproductive rights] ” ‘Woman’ in the European Human Rights System:  How is the reproductive rights jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights constructing narratives of women’s citizenship?” by  Liiri Oja and Alicia Ely Yamin in Columbia Journal of Gender and Law 32.1 (2016): 62-95.   Abstract and Article.

[Uruguay] “Reform of abortion law in Uruguay: context, process and lessons learned,” by Susan Wood, Lilián Abracinskas, Sonia Corrêa, and Mario Pecheny, Reproductive Health Matters, online since December 8, 2016. Abstract and Article.

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

NEWS

[Mexico] Excerpts from the Symbolic Tribunal on Maternal Mortality and Obstetric Violence, (published by GIRE, Oct 28, 2016).   5-minute film.

[Spain – conscientious objection]  Galician health system ordered to compensate woman – Forced travel to Madrid for late-term abortion of doomed fetus cost woman her uterus, nearly her life.  News report in English.  Noticias en español.

[Uruguay Model] “From Uruguay, a model for making abortion safer” [misoprostol – harm reduction instruction method spreading to restrictive jurisdictions, e.g. Uganda and Tanzania.   New York Times editorial.   Relevant 2011 article: Access to Information on Safe abortion, by Joanna Erdman.

JOBS

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

______________
Compiled by the Coordinator of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca For Program publications and resources, see our website, online here. TO JOIN THIS BLOG: enter your email address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates

REPROHEALTHLAW Blog
February 11, 2016

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.

LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Commission) adopted General Comment No. 3 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (General Comment No. 3 “The Right to Life”) in November 2015 in Banjul, The Gambia.  On the  AfricLAW blog,   Paul Ogendi mentions that the document “avoids controversial subjects like abortion, euthanasia and others, ”  but “. . . for the very first time in Africa stakeholders can rely on a truly African document developed by an African institution to enhance the protection of the right to life regionally and beyond.”

Democratic Party v. The Secretary General of the East African Community, Appeal No. 1 of 2014 (East African Court of Justice at Arusha, Appellate Division).  Decision online.  See:  “It’s official: The East African Court of Justice can now adjudicate human rights cases.”  by Ally Possi, LL.D. (Pretoria) on AfricLaw Blog.

Gambia:  Female circumcision banned 2 December 2015. National Assembly passed the Women’s (Amendment) Bill 2015  to prohibit female circumcision.  See: “Banning female circumcision in The Gambia through legislative change: The next steps,” by Satang Nabaneh, LL.M. (Pretoria), on AfricLaw Blog.

Peru agrees to compensate woman in KL v Peru (UN Human Rights Committee).  Hospital denied legal abortion to teen with anencephalic fetus due to unclear laws.  OHCHR press release.  Background from CRR.

Portugal: Lawmakers overturn presidential veto on gay rights, abortion law.  “…changes will waive mandatory counselling and medical payments for women seeking an abortion through the public health service.”  News from Portugal.

Sweden: District court rules midwife must perform abortions. News article.

CALLS
Reproductive Health Matters, Call for submissions on “Sexuality, sexual and reproductive health in later life” for November issue.   Submission system opens March 15, 2016.  Call for Papers

Feminist Legal Studies.  Submission process for prospective new authors.  Editorial by Ruth Fletcher.

“Abortion and Reproductive Justice- The Unfinished Revolution II”  International Conference, 2-3 June 2016, Ulster University, Belfast, Northern Ireland   Early birds – register now.  Draft programme.   Programme with Abstracts for each panel

PUBLICATIONS:

[abortion, Africa] Taking Women’s Rights Seriously: Using Human Rights to Require State Implementation of Domestic Abortion Laws in African Countries with Reference to Uganda, by Charles G Ngwena, Journal of African Law 60.1 (Feb 2016): 110-140.  Abstract and article.

[abortion, England]  “Risks, Reasons and Rights:  The European Convention on Human Rights and English Abortion Law,”  by Rosamund Scott, Medical Law Review 24 (2016): 1-33.   Open access online.

Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective:  Cases and Controversies, ed. Rebecca J. Cook, Joanna N. Erdman and Bernard M. Dickens, 16 chapters.  University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014, 482 pages.  Introduction by the editors. Table of Cases online  Table of Contents with chapter abstracts.  Purchase from U Penn Press.  Now in Spanish: ¡Ahora en español!   E-chapters now accessible in institutional libraries through Project Muse and JSTOR.

[conscience] “Conscience Wars in Transnational Perspective: Religious Liberty, Third-Party Harm, and Pluralism” by Douglas NeJaime and Reva Siegel.  In:  The Conscience Wars: Rethinking the Balance between Religion, Identity, and Equality, ed. Susanna Mancini & Michel Rosenfeld (Cambridge Univ. Press 2017 Forthcoming).  Chapter online.

[conscientious objection] “Tasmania’s Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Act 2013: An analysis of conscientious objection to abortion and the ‘obligation to refer,’”  by Ronli Sifris,  Journal of Law and Medicine 22(2015): 900-914    Article online.

[conscientious objection]  “Recommended Reading” on Conscientious Objection has recently been added to our Conscientious Objection topic pages.

[HIV] “Advancing the sexual and reproductive health and human rights of women living with HIV: a review of UN, regional and national human rights norms and standards” by Rajat Khosla, Nuna Van Belle, Marleen Temmerman, online here,  in “Sexual and reproductive health and human rights of women living with HIV,” special issue of  Journal of the International AIDS Society 18 Supplement 5 (2015).  Special issue contents.

NEWS
[abortion, Africa]  The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights launches campaign to decriminalize abortion. Ipas announcement

[abortion, Brazil]  Surge of Zika Virus Has Brazilians Re-examining Strict Abortion Laws  New York Times article.   WHO statement.   Interview with Prof. Debora Diniz:  Huffington Post article.  Women on Web offers free medical abortions online here.

[abortion, including Ireland ] Dr. Ruth Fletcher discusses access to abortion in Ireland, law’s “reproductivity,” and feminist knowledge production.   Interview transcript.

[abortion, Ireland]  Parliamentary assembly considers abortion proposals for cases of rape or fetal abnormality.   Stormont abortion.

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

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Vienna Master of Arts in Human Rights, University of Vienna, Austria.  Apply by March 29, 2016. MA Human Rights details

Master of Health Science (MHSc) in Bioethics program for September 2016.  Apply by March 1, 2016.  MHSc Bioethics details .

JOBS:
Gender Justice and Women’s Rights Director,  Oxfam, Oxford, UK, apply by Feb. 19, 2016.  Oxfam job details.

Latin American Communications Manager, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA)  Job details.

Program Officer Sexual Violence/Adolescent Girls’ Legal Defense Fund, Equality Now, Nairobi, Kenya – advice and legal research, litigation activities and administration of projects.  Equality Now job details

Sexual and Reproductive Rights Advocate Trainer, Amnesty USA,  Apply by Feb 12, 2016  Job details.

Senior Advisor III, Community Access, Ipas, Chapel Hill NC, USA.  Ipas job details.

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

Compiled by the Coordinator of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca .   For Program publications and resources, see our website, online here.  TO JOIN THIS BLOG: enter your email address in upper right corner of this webpage, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

Africa: New book on Strengthening protection of SRH through Human Rights

Congratulations to Charles Ngwena and Ebenezer Durojaye, editors of this useful 365-page book available online here!   We are delighted to provide an overview and Table of Contents below.

Strengthening the protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the African region through human rights, ed. Charles Ngwena and Ebenezer Durojaye (Pretoria, South Africa:  Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), 2014) 12 chapters, 365 pages.   Entire book online!

Strengthening the protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the African region through human rights uses rights-based frameworks to address some of the serious sexual and reproductive health challenges that the African region is currently facing. More importantly, the book provides insightful human rights approaches on how these challenges can be overcome. The book is the first of its kind. It is an important addition to the resources available to researchers, academics, policymakers, civil society organisations, human rights defenders, learners and other persons interested in the subject of sexual and reproductive health and rights as they apply to the African region. Human rights issues addressed by the book include: access to safe abortion and emergency obstetric care; HIV/AIDS; adolescent sexual health and rights; early marriage; and gender-based sexual violence.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Foreword by Commissioner Soyata Maiga   (Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa) (p. viii)

INTRODUCTION: 
1.  Strengthening the protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the African region through human rights: An introduction
by Charles Ngwena and Ebenezer Durojaye  (page 1)

PART I: REPRODUCTIVE AUTONOMY, ACCESS TO SAFE ABORTION AND EMERGENCY OBSTETRIC CARE:

2.  Reducing abortion-related maternal mortality in Africa:
Progress in implementing Objective 5 of the Maputo Plan of Action on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights

          by Eunice Brookman-Amissah and Tinyade Kachika    (page 31)

3.  Access to legal abortion for rape as a reproductive health right: A commentary on the abortion

regimes of Swaziland and Ethiopia

           by Simangele Mavundla and Charles Ngwena     (page 61)

4.  Abortion and the European Convention on Human Rights: A lens for abortion advocacy in Africa

           by Christina Zampas and Jaime Todd-Gher     (page 79)

5.  Accountability for non-fulfilment of human rights obligations:
A key strategy for reducing maternal mortality and disability in sub-Saharan Africa

           by Onyema Afulukwe-Eruchalu      (page 119)

PART II: HIV/AIDS FOCUS:

6.  Adolescent girls, HIV, and state obligations under the African Women’s Rights Protocol

           by Karen Stefiszyn  (page 155)

7.  Advancing a feminist capabilities approach to HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa

           by Rebecca Amollo (page 181)

8.  The right to health and AIDS medicines in sub-Saharan Africa:
Assessing the outcomes of a human rights-based approach to medicines

           by Lisa Forman  (page 211)

PART III: SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS:

INTERSECTIONS WITH ADOLESCENCE, EARLY MARRIAGE, GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND POVERTY:

9.  Sexual health and rights of adolescents: A dialogue with sub-Saharan Africa

           by Godfrey Kangaude and Tiffany Banda  (page 251)

10.  Promoting sexual and reproductive rights through legislative interventions:
A case study of child rights legislation and early marriage in Nigeria and Ethiopia
           by Ayodele Atsenuwa (page 279)

11.  Gaps in gender-based violence jurisprudence of international and hybrid criminal courts:
Can human rights law help?

           by Susana Sácouto  (page 305)

12. Women, sexual rights and poverty: Framing the linkage under the African human rights system

           by Fana Hagos Berhane  (page 331)