Africa: Adolescents’ right to abortion and contraception

Congratulations and thanks to Godfrey Dalitso Kangaude, Catriona MacLeod, Ernestina Coast, and Tamara Fetters, whose article, “Integrating child rights standards in contraceptive and abortion care for minors in Africa,” suggests that African countries integrate child rights principles in clinical guidelines and protocols to provide high-quality contraceptive and abortion care for minor girls. The article appeared in the Ethical and Legal Issues in Reproductive Health section of the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics. The full text is available online, and we are pleased to circulate the authors’ abstract.

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

Abstract: Minor girls in Africa face challenges in accessing high-quality contraceptive and abortion services because laws and policies are not child-friendly. Many countries maintain restrictive laws, policies or hospital practices that make it difficult for minors to access contraception and safe abortion even when the pregnancy would risk their life or health. Further, the clinical guidelines on contraceptive and abortion care are silent, vague or ambiguous regarding minors’ consent. African states should remedy the situation by ensuring that clinical guidelines integrate child rights principles and standards articulated in child rights treaties to enable health providers to facilitate full and unencumbered access to contraceptive and abortion care for minor girls. A sample of clinical guidelines is analyzed to demonstrate the importance of explicit, consistent and unambiguous language about children’s consent to ensure that health care workers provide sexual and reproductive health care in a manner that respects child rights.

Keywords: child rights; contraceptive and abortion care, Convention on the Rights of the Child; African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; evolving capacities, WHO abortion care guideline

Full text of this article is online here.

RELATED RESOURCE

Ethical and Legal Issues in Reproductive Health, more than 110 concise articles 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 Blog Commentaries Series.  TO JOIN THE REPROHEALTHLAW BLOG: enter your email address in the upper right corner of this blog, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

 

Self-managed abortion: law, policy and medical evidence

Congratulations and thanks to Patty Skuster, Heidi Moseson and Jamila Perritt, whose article was recently published in the “Ethical and Legal Issues in Reproductive Health” section of the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Prof. Skuster holds the Beck Chair in Law at the Beasley School of Law at Temple University, Dr. Moseson is Senior Research Scientist at Ibis Reproductive Health, and Dr. Perritt is President and CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health. We are pleased to circulate the abstract of their co-authored article, which is now freely accessible online. 

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

ABSTRACT: People have always and will always find ways to try to end their pregnancies when necessary. Many do so safely without the involvement or direct supervision of healthcare professionals by self-managing their abortions. In 2022, the well-established safety and efficacy of abortion medications prompted WHO to fully endorse self-managed medication abortion as part of a comprehensive range of safe, effective options for abortion care. But despite robust evidence supporting the safety and effectiveness of the self-use of medications for abortion, abortion laws and policies around the world remain at odds with clinical evidence and with the realities of self-managed medication abortion in the present day. The present article considers legal issues related to self-managed abortion and addresses the role of obstetricians, gynecologists, and other healthcare professionals in promoting clinical and legal safety in abortion care through support of self-managed abortion.

RELATED RESOURCES

World Health Organization, Abortion Care Guideline, 2022. Online here.

“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. 

Ethical and Legal Issues in Reproductive Health, more than 110 concise articles 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 this blog, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – 2023-24

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, 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.

WHO Abortion Care Guideline: Past, Present and Future

Congratulations to Professor Joanna N. Erdman, MacBain Chair in Health Law and Policy at the Schulich School of Law in Dalhousie University, who served as a technical advisor with the WHO’s Department of Reproductive Health and Research and as a member of the Law and Policy Evidence and Recommendation Review Group, and the Guideline Development Group for the 2022 Abortion Care Guidelines. Her article on WHO’s new guideline was recently published in the Ethical and Legal Issues in Reproductive Health section of the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics. We are pleased to circulate the abstract of her article, which is freely accessible online. 

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

Abstract: In the 2022 Abortion Care Guideline, the World Health Organization (WHO) undertook systematic evidence reviews of seven law and policy interventions to assess their health and social impacts. Distinct recommendations were formulated for each. The present article highlights how the Guideline reconceptualizes abortion regulation as a complex structural intervention that shapes clinical care and service delivery and distributes risks and resources within these systems and in the care relations that define them. It then presents the Guideline recommendations and summarizes their evidence base, drawing on recent legal and policy developments to emphasize their real-world significance. The article concludes by anticipating the future of abortion law and policy, focusing on service delivery innovations and diverse care models, drug regulation and the supply of abortion pills, and protective interventions crafted in the context of political crisis and immediate need that serve policy objectives and take regulatory forms different from the past.

RELATED RESOURCES:

World Health Organization, Abortion Care Guideline, 2022. Online here.

See also: “Self managed abortion:  aligning law and policy with medical evidence,” by Patty Skuster, Heidi Moseson and Jamila Perritt, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 160.2 (February 2023): 720-725. . PDF at Wiley Online.  

Ethical and Legal Issues in Reproductive Health, more than 110 concise articles 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.

Malawi’s first abortion ruling sheds light on law and hospital norms

Many thanks to legal scholars Lewis Bande, Ph.D, and Godfrey Kangaude, LL.D., for submitting a learned commentary on the High Court of Malawi’s first ever “Ruling on a judicial review application to access safe abortion,” decided June 15, 2021. Their 6-page summary and analysis of this decision has just been published at this link, among the online updates to the third volume of case summaries, Legal Grounds: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts. Here is a brief overview of their comments on the following case:

The State (On the Application by HM (Guardian) on behalf of CM (Minor) vs The Hospital Director of Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital & The Minister of Health: Judicial Review Cause Number 03 of 2021 (unreported) (High Court of Malawi, Zomba District Registry) Decision of 15 June 2021. Decision on Google drive. (Download:) Legal Brief by Lewis Bande and Godfrey Kangaude. 

The case centres upon a minor known as “C.M.,” a 15-year-old girl who had been “defiled,” impregnated and abandoned by a married man.  She claimed to have been refused termination of pregnancy at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital’s facility for survivors of sexual abuse. There, healthcare providers told her that abortion is illegal in Malawi.  From legal counsel, the girl’s family later learned that abortion is indeed illegal under the antiquated Malawi Penal Code of 1930, but prosecution can be avoided under Section 243, which provides:

A person is not criminally responsible for performing in good faith and with reasonable care and skill a surgical operation upon any person for his benefit, or upon an unborn child for the preservation of the mother’s life, if the performance of the operation is reasonable, having regard to the patient’s state at the time, and to all the circumstances of the case.

Healthcare providers routinely interpret this Section of the law restrictively, excluding victims of defilement or sexual assault. In this context, abortion requests and refusals normally happen orally and are not usually recorded in medical records.

The Court’s Ruling: The Court rejected the application for judicial review on the sole ground that there was no evidence that the First Defendant, as director of a public hospital, was responsible for any “decision” that could be judicially reviewed. As Bande and Kangaude observe, the Court cannot be faulted for this ruling. However, the Court proceeded to speculate that this application would probably have failed on other grounds that seem debatable. The Court’s ruling, they write, shows room for further litigation on the interpretation of the current law for girls and women who have been sexually assaulted.  In the ruling, the Court used language that suggests that it recognizes that preservation of a woman’s life entails preserving her mental and physical health. This seems progressive on the part of Court, as it conforms with the consensus in the human rights discourse that the rights to health and life are closely related.   

Significance: Although permission for judicial review was denied, this ruling is a milestone, marking the very first instance that the High Court of Malawi has acknowledged and discussed the position that abortion can be lawfully performed in Malawi. The ruling also shows that defiled or raped Malawian girls and women are being excluded from safe abortion, and they are forced to keep pregnancies that are a result of sexual assault because the Section 243 exception is interpreted restrictively by health providers. The Second Defendant in this case was, appropriately, the Minister of Health, because decisions to refuse terminations of pregnancy would be based on policies for which the Health Minister is responsible.

The Malawi Law Commission’s 2015 review of the colonial abortion law proposed liberal changes to the law which, if implemented, would eventually expand access to safe abortion.[1] Rather than waiting for law reform, the Ministry of Health should immediately provide defiled girls and rape victims with access to safe abortion by clarifying the application of the existing abortion law. In the Health Ministry’s current Standards and Guidelines for Post Abortion Care (2020)[3], section 1.2, it remains unclear whether victims of sexual violence can access safe terminations legally. Professional guidelines should clarify that any girl or woman who has been raped or defiled should have an option to terminate the pregnancy, and without being subjected to burdensome requirements such as proving severe depression or suicidal ideation. Meanwhile, health advocates should continue to champion law reforms that respect Malawi’s constitutional and international obligations toward girls and women.

Related Resources:

[1]   Malawi Law Commission. Report of the Law Commission on the review of the law on abortion (Penal Code CAP.7:01 of the Laws of Malawi). Lilongwe: Malawi Law Commission; 2015. Report online.

 [2] See also: Godfrey Dalitso Kangaude and Chisale Mhango, “The Duty to make abortion law transparent: A Malawi case study” International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 143.3 (Dec. 2018): 409–413, Published Version at IJGO.  Submitted text online at SSRN.

[3] Ministry of Health, Malawi, Standards and Guidelines for Post Abortion Care 2020.   43-page document. PAC Guidelines.

(Download:) Legal Brief by Lewis Bande and Godfrey Kangaude. 

________
Compiled by the Coordinator of 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.

Kenya: “JMM” decision: Abortion legal after rape; Restore training guidelines

Many thanks to Benson Chakaya, a D.Phil Candidate and M.Phil Graduate in the LL.M./M.Phil (Sexual & Reproductive Rights in Africa) degree program at the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria.  He also serves as National Coordinator for Right Here Right Now Kenya ​hosted by the ​Family Health Options Kenya and formerly worked with the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions.  His full case summary and comment has been added to the online update of Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts.

We also thank Bernard Dickens, Professor Emeritus of Health Law and Policy at the University of Toronto, co-editor and author of Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies (2014), who provided a concise overview of this important decision:

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 Comment by Benson Chakaya (Download PDF).

This decision followed the death from consequences of unsafe abortion of a 14-year-old rape victim. The Federation of Women Lawyers and other petitioners challenged the constitutionality of decisions of the Director of Medical Services (DMS) of the Ministry of Health, who was also Registrar of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board regulating medical practice and institutions, to withdraw the Ministry’s 2012 Standards and Guidelines for Reducing Morbidity and Mortality from Unsafe Abortion in Kenya, and National Training Curriculum for the Management of Unintended, Risky and Unplanned Pregnancy.

The DMS had justified these withdrawals on the claim that “the only law in force with respect to abortion is the Penal Code” (para. 366), which provides in section 158 that anyone who “with intent to procure the miscarriage of a woman…unlawfully administers to her or causes her to take any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind, or uses any other means whatever, is guilty of a felony…”. The DMS claimed that it was unlawful to set standards and training for unlawful procedures, and warned that offenders faced legal and professional disciplinary sanctions. The DMS cited in support Article 26(4) of the Kenyan Constitution, that “Abortion is not permitted unless, in the opinion of a trained health professional, there is need for emergency treatment, or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted by any other written law”.

However, the Court rejected DMS and other respondents’ restrictive arguments that “trained health professional” meant only a registered physician, that “health” meant only physical health, and their disregard of other written law. The Article 26(4) exception was interpreted liberally to accommodate midwives, nurses and other trained health service providers, and psychological and mental health indications for abortion. The Court widely reviewed U.S., U.K. and Canadian jurisprudence and international human rights treaties adopted by Kenya, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol), to nullify the DMS withdrawals as arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional, and declare abortion of pregnancy resulting from rape or defilement that “poses a danger to the life or the health (physical, mental and social well-being)” of the victim to fall within the exception provided by Article 26(4) of the Constitution. The respondents were ordered to pay Ksh.3,000,000 (about US $27,445) “for the physical, psychological, emotional and mental anguish, stress, pain, suffering and death of [the rape victim] occasioned by respondents violation “of her constitutional rights to the required standard of indicated trained medical care.” (para. 415).

The full decision (69 pages) is online here.
Case summary (9 pages) by Benson Chakaya can be downloaded here (PDF)

RELEVANT RESOURCE:
Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Health in Sub-Saharan African Courts contains summaries and comments on 60+ court decisions, 2008-present
Online edition with updates and links to decisions.
Published books – free PDF download: Legal Grounds I (2005), Legal Grounds II (2008), Legal Grounds III (2017).
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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.

“Post-abortion care: Ethical and Legal duties”

Congratulations and thanks to Bernard M. Dickens, Professor Emeritus of Health Law and Policy at the University of Toronto’s law school, whose concise article about the new FIGO guideline has just appeared in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics‘ special section on Ethical and Legal Issues in Reproductive Health. We are pleased to circulate the author’s abstract:

“Post abortion care: Ethical and Legal duties,” International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 147 (Nov. 2019) 273-275   PDF at Wiley Online for 12 months.    Submitted text at SSRN

Abstract: Women who experience complications from abortion, whether unlawful or lawful, induced or spontaneous, need immediate post-abortion care. Delay in providing care might cause women’s avoidable disability, lost childbearing capacity, or death. Rendering care is not an abortion procedure nor illegal, and does not justify conscientious objection. Harm reduction strategies to reduce effects of unsafe abortion may legitimately inform women who might consider resort to abortifacient interventions of their rights to professional post-abortion care. Healthcare practitioners’ refusal or failure to provide available care might constitute ethical misconduct and attract legal liability, for instance for negligence. States are responsible to ensure healthcare practitioners’ and facilities’ provision of post-abortion care, including both medical care and psychological support, delivered with compassion and respect for dignity, and to suppress stigmatization of patients and/or caregivers. Mandatory reporting of patients suspected of criminal abortion violates professional confidentiality. States’ failures of indicated care might constitute human rights violations.

KEYWORDS: Abortion; Conscientious objection; Induced abortion; Lawful abortion; Post-abortion care; Spontaneous abortion; State responsibility.

PDF at Wiley Online for 12 months.    Submitted text at SSRN

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RELEVANT RESOURCES:
FIGO Committee Statement: “Ethical responsibilities in post‐abortion care,” International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 146. 3 (Sept 2019): 269-270. FIGO Post-abortion care Guidelines.

The Philippines’ new post-abortion 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.  

“The Philippines rolls back recent advancements in Postabortion Care policy” by Melissa Upreti and Jihan Jacob, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 142 (August 2018): 255–256 PDF at Wiley online.  Submitted text at SSRN.
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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: Decisions, News, Resources and Jobs

REPROHEALTHLAW
January 14, 2016

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DECISIONS AND LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS:

Dominican Republic: Constitutional Court Repeals Abortion Law  (Dec.04, 2015 Despite progress made by the Dominican Republic in 2014 to amend the penal code to decriminalize abortion in limited circumstances, the Constitutional Tribunal of the Supreme Court this week declared this amendment unconstitutional. CRR Press Release. Colectiva Mujer y Salud press release.  Thomson-Reuters news report.

Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, Re Judicial Review [2015] NIQB 96, November 30, 2015  (High Court of Justice in Belfast):  Northern Ireland’s abortion law are incompatible with European Convention on Human Rights Article 8 because it does not allow exceptions for fatal fetal abnormalities, rape, or incest.   The  judgment also has implications for Commonwealth countries that retain the English 1861 Offences Against the Person Act.   Decision of November 30, 2015.  Official summary.  Reprohealthlaw blog    “Judge leaves Northern Ireland’s abortion laws to lawmakers.” New York Times     “Northern Ireland medics fear prison over abortion advice” Guardian article.

Sierra Leone – Update – Safe Abortion Act delayed.    President Koroma “engages” religious leaders, delaying legalization.  He plans to send the Act back to Parliament for review.  Government press release.  The International Campaign for Safe Abortion, a coalition of NGOs, is circulating an Ipas petition urging quick passage of the Safe Abortion Act into law:   Petition to the President of Sierra Leone.

[Uganda]: Centre for Health, Human Rights and Development [CEHURD] and Iga Daniel v Attorney General [2015], Constitutional Petition No. 64 of 2011 (Constitutional Court of Uganda at Kampala).  The decision deals in part with criminalization of sex with women with mental disabilities.  Dehumanizing language “idiot” or “imbecile” has been replaced  Decision online.

EVENTS

[abortion] 3rd International Congress on Women’s Health and Unsafe Abortion (IWAC 2016), Bangkok, Thailand, January 26-29, 2016.  Congress details.

Abortion Under Apartheid: Nationalism, Sexuality, and Women’s Reproductive Rights, book presented by Susanne Klausen (Oxford University Press, 2015) at Carleton University, Ottawa, on Friday January 29, from 12:30 to 2:30 in the History Lounge (Paterson Hall, room 433) book launch details.

[assisted reproduction, surrogacy]”Assisted Reproduction: Navigating the Criminalization of Commercial Surrogacy and Reacting to Unexpected Situations”  McGill Journal of Law and Health’s Annual Colloquium, February 6th, 2016, 10:00-14:00, Faculty of Law, New Chancellor Day Hall, Room 100 (Moot Court), McGill University, Montreal, Canada.  RSVP here.

[Northern Ireland]”Abortion and Reproductive Justice- The Unfinished Revolution II”  International Conference, Ulster University, Belfast, Northern Ireland,  June 2-3, 2016.  Conference details.

[abortion] “Improving women’s journeys through abortion,” 12th FIAPAC conference,  Lisbon, Portugal, Oct 13-15 2016  (Abstracts due April 15, Early registration by June 30) FIAPAC 2016 details.

PUBLICATIONS:

[abortion, anencephalic pregnancy, Brazil] The new Brazilian law journal Revista Publicum, based at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) released its first issue on December 30, 2015, 261 pages, in Portuguese.  It contains an interview with Supreme Court judge Luis Roberto Barroso, who discusses the legalization of abortion in cases of fetal anencephaly.   new Brazilian law journal.   Related Resource:  “Bringing abortion into the Brazilian Public Debate: Legal strategies for anencephalic pregnancy,” by Luis Roberto Barroso, abstracted here.

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!

[abortion, Eastern Europe] “Mandatory Waiting Periods and Biased Counseling Requirements in Central and Eastern Europe: Restricting Access to Abortion, Undermining Human Rights, and Reinforcing Harmful Gender Stereotypes. (Center for Reproductive Rights, 2015)  abstract and 13-page fact sheets.

[abortion, Latin America] Guía de entrenamiento de causal violencia sexual: dirigida a personal de la salud y judicial   [Training guide on legal abortion on grounds of rape: for health care personnel and the judiciary] by Ana Cristina González Vélez y Viviana Bohorquez Monsalve (Bogotá: August 2013.    Full text in Spanish.

[abortion, Latin America] Interrupción legal del embarazo por la causal violación: enfoques de salud y jurídico [Legal abortion on grounds of rape: approaches from a health and legal perspective] por Paola Bergallo y Ana Cristina González Velez con las contribuciones del Grupo Foro Virtual Causal Violación y la Secretaría Técnica y Asistente:  Silvina Ramos con la colaboración de Agustina Ramón Michel   (Bogota, La Mesa por la Vida y la Salud de las Mujeres, 2012), 212 pages  PDF (3 mb) now online in Spanish

[abortion -Northern Ireland) “Human Rights and Making Change: Looking Backwards and Moving Forwards from the Northern Ireland High Court Decision on Abortion” December 10, 2015  by Dr Catherine O’Rourke, University College Cork, Faculty of Law, CCJHR blog post.

[abortion – Northern Ireland] “Submission of Evidence to the CEDAW Committee Optional Protocol: Inquiry Procedure,  by the Family Planning Association Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Women’s European Platform (NIWEP), and Alliance For Choice, February 11, 2015. Abstract and Full Text.

[abortion, South Africa]  Claiming and defending abortion rights in South Africa  by Cathi Albertyn,  Revista direito GV São Paulo 11(2) (JUL-DEZ 2015) 429-454.   Abstract and full text in English, abstract in Portuguese.  [Reivindicando e defendendo o direito ao aborto na África do Sul]

[adolescents] “Enhancing the Role of Health Professionals in the Advancement Of Adolescent Sexual Health and Rights in Africa” (2016), by Godfrey Kangaude. International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 132 (2016) 105–108.  online here.

Adolescents’ reproductive and sexual health – “Recommended Reading” – new section of our Adolescents topic page, online here.  It includes these recent papers:

—“The potential of the Expert Committee of the African Children’s Charter in advancing adolescent sexual health and rights in Africa,” by Ebenezer Durojaye,  (2013) 46:3 The Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa 385. Online here.

—“Righting the mismatch between law, policy and the sexual and reproductive health needs of young people in the Asia-Pacific Region” by J. Godwin, et al.  (2014) 22:44 Reproductive Health Matters 137. Article online.

—“Sexual health and rights of adolescents: A dialogue with sub Saharan Africa” by Godfrey Kangaude and Tiffany Banda, “ in Charles Ngwena and Ebenezer Durojaye, eds, Strengthening the protection of sexual and reproductive health through human rights in the African Region through human rights (Pretoria: University of Pretoria Law Press; 2014) 251.

—“Adolescent girls, HIV, and state obligations under the African Women’s Rights Protocol” by Karen Stefiszyn, in Charles Ngwena and Ebenezer Durojaye, eds, Strengthening the protection of sexual and reproductive health through human rights in the African Region through human rights (Pretoria: University of Pretoria Law Press; 2014) 155.

[obstetric violence] “Making Loud Bodies ‘Feminine’: A Feminist-Phenomenological Analysis of Obstetric Violence,” by Sara Cohen Shabot, Human Studies (published online Oct 9, 2015), pp 1-17.  Abstract and article.

“Patients’ Refusal of Recommended Treatment” (2015), by Bernard Dickens and Rebecca Cook. International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 131 (2015) 105–108.  Article and abstract online at SSRN.

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

NEWS

[abortion – Women on Web] “From Nagpur to Northern Ireland: pill pipeline helping women get round abortion laws” Guardian article.

European Union Divorces Itself from US Abortion Ban – 2016 Budget mandates EU funds, “not be subject to restrictions imposed by other partner donors” (i.e. US ban on use of funds for abortions)  Global Justice Centre comment.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

[Canada, HIV/AIDS]  Policy Analyst/Researcher, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.  Please send cover letter, resume and unedited writing sample to hiring {at} aidslaw.ca asap or before January 31, 2016.  Job details.

[United Kingdom] 2-year postdoctoral researcher needed to work with Prof. Sally Sheldon and  interdisciplinary research team on an AHRC-funded project, “The Abortion Act: a Biography.”   Kent Law School Kent University , Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom.  Postdoctoral work details

Deputy Director, Public Health Program, Open Society, New York, USA.   Job details

Executive Director,  Asia Catalyst, New York, USA, which builds strong civil society and advances the right to health for marginalized groups in Asia  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.

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates

REPROHEALTHLAW-L  May 28, 2015

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.

DECISIONS

GENDER JUSTICE OBSERVATORY-  Voting open until May 31, 2015
Vote the Best or Worst Decisions that promote or negatively affect gender equality
View all Nominated Decisions:   English    Spanish
How to vote:  English video    Spanish video

KENYA:  Hospital liable for costs of unwanted child after failure to implant contraceptive.
AAA v. Registered Trustees of Aga Khan University Hospital, Civil Case no. 3 of 2013, High Court of Kenya at Nairobi, Civil Division.
Decision online.    Newspaper summary.  Detailed summary by Godfrey Kangaude

PHILIPPINES – Contraception ban in Manila, inquiry report by UN – CEDAW, finds reproductive rights violations and discrimination. CEDAW inquiry report online.   Center for Reproductive Rights Press release.

SOUTH AFRICA – “Ukuthwala (customary law) is not a defence against rape of a child.”
High Court of the Western Cape
Jezile v S (A127/2014) [2015] ZAWCHC (23 March 2015)
Detailed Case Summary of Jezile case.  Entire Judgment.
University of Pretoria’s Centre for Child Law: Press Release

UGANDA – Preventable maternal death and constitutional right to health – Centre for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) and others v. Attorney General, Constitutional Petition No. 16 of 2011 (Constitutional Court of Uganda) [2012] UGCC 4, 5 June 2012. Decision online.   Legal Comment.    NEWS: Overruled by Supreme Court in 2015.

EVENTS:

“Bioethics, Medical Ethics and Health Law”
UNESCO Chair in Bioethics 11th World Conference
Royal Continental Congress Center
October 20-22, 2015, Naples, Italy  Conference details.

2016 FIAPAC Conference
13 – 15 October 2016
Lisbon, Portugal  Conference details.

RESOURCES

Inspiring a Medico-Legal Revolution: Essays in Honour of Sheila McLean,  ed. Pamela Ferguson and Graeme Laurie (Ashgate,  June 2015)
Book abstract and details .
Part I:  Issues at the Beginning of Life, includes:

1 Reproductive Health and the Law, by Rebecca J. Cook and Bernard M. Dickens,

2 DIY Abortion and Harm Reduction, by Emily Jackson,

3 Parenthood and Artificial Human Reproduction: The Dangers of Inappropriate Medicalisation, by Kenneth McK. Norrie,

4 ‘Fetal Infants’: At the Edge of Life? by Margot Brazier and John Harris.

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: online through SSRN. Book reviewers should contact Gigi Lamm (glamm {a} pobox. upenn. edu) Includes 16 chapters, Table of Legislation, Table of Cases, also online here, with links to abortion-related decisions in English and/or other languages). Table of Contents online here. Purchase info: link to U Penn Press.

[abortion] The Responsibility Objection to Abortion: Rejecting the Notion that the Responsibility Objection Successfully Refutes a Woman’s Right to Choose, by Ian K. McDaniel,  Bioethics, 29.4 (2015)  pp. 291-299, 2015. Abstract online.

[conscience]  Managing Conscientious Objections in Intensive Care Medicine,  An Official American Thoracic Society Policy Statement, by Thaddeus Mason Pope and Mithya Lewis-Newby, Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015 Jan 15;191(2):219-27. Abstract Online.

[conscience]  Medical Law Review – special issue 23, on Conscience and Proper Medical Treatment, intro Sara Fovargue, Sheelagh McGuinness, Alexandra Mullock, and Stephen Smith
— Medicine and Abortion Law, by Sheelagh McGuinness and Michael Thomson
— Conscientious Objection:  Personal and Professional Ethics in the Public Square, by Jonathan Montgomery
— “In Good Conscience”:  Conscience-based exemptions and Proper Medical Treatment, by Sara Fovargue and Mary Neal
— Making decisions about decision-making: Conscience, Regulation and the Law, by José Miola
— A Bridge too Far: Individualised Claims of Conscience, by Stephen W. Smith
— Gillick Reinstated: Judging Mid-Childhood Competence in Healthcare Law: An NHS Trust v. ABC and a local Authority [2014] EWHC 1445 (FAM)
— Book Review:  Conscience and Conviction: The case for civil disobedience, by Clayton Ó Néill

[Ethics] New guidelines from the FIGO  for the Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction and Women’s Health, published in the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics (IJGO)
— Health consequences of child or adolescent marriage,  IJGO 128.1, Jan. 2015, pp 83-84. Online
 — Adolescent pregnancies, IJGO  128.2, Feb. 2015, pp. 185-186  Online.
— Conscientious objection in training IJGO 128.1 1, Jan 2015, pp. 89-90  Online.
— Women’s post-reproductive lives, IJGO 128. 2, Feb. 2015, pp. 189-190.  Online.
— Healthcare professionals’ responses to violence against women, IJGO 128.1, Jan. 2015, pp 87-88.  Online.
— Conflict of interest, including relationships with industry, IJGO 128.3, Mar. 2015, pp 282-283.  Online.

Holistic Pregnancy: Rejecting the Theory of the Adversarial Mother, by Rona Kaufman Kitchen, Hastings Women’s Law Journal, 26.2( 2015)  Article online.

[Latin America] “Reproduction and the Rule of Law in Latin America, by Michele Goodwin and Allison M. Whelan, Fordham Law Review, Vol. 83, No. 5, 2015; UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2015-44. Article online.

NEWS

Dominican Republic: Abortion Law Debated in Supreme Court,
Center for Reproductive Rights Press release

Ecuador – CEDAW recommends to decriminalize abortion for rape, incest and severe fetal impairment,  Concluding Observations – Ecuador.  Press release from Human Rights Watch.

Guyana:  Twenty years after legalization, the stigma of abortion still prevents effective implementation, by Fred Nunes (in Stabroek Newspaper)

Mexico:  legal grounds for abortion have been increased in three Mexican states: Guerrero, Michoacan and Tlaxcala. GIRE report

Morocco  considers new abortion law, led by the king and a gynecologist.  Guardian newspaper

Myanmar: population control bill signed into law despite concerns it could be used to persecute minorities.  News report.

Paraguay:  Raped 10-year old denied abortion is “tantamount to torture” claims Amnesty International.  News report

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

World Health Organization:  Misoprostol for treating Post-Partum Hemorrhage is included in the Model List of Essential Medicines
Model List.

Zimbabwe: Child brides take government to court over marriage laws.  News report.

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.