Mexico: Supreme Court decriminalizes abortion

Congratulations to Leticia Bonifaz Alfonzo and Rosalba Mora Sierra, whose article on the 2023 decriminalization of abortion by the Mexican Supreme Court was recently published in the “Ethical and Legal Issues” section of the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and is now freely available. Leticia Bonifaz Alfonzo, a member of the UN CEDAW committee, is affiliated with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. Rosalba Mora Sierra is Director of Access to Justice at the General Unit of Scientific Knowledge and Human Rights, Mexican Supreme Court in Mexico City. The article is now freely available online:

Leticia Bonifaz Alfonzo and Rosalba Mora Sierra, “Decriminalization of Abortion by the Mexican Supreme Court,” International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 165.1 (April 2024): 375–381. 
Article and Abstract Online.  Spanish translation of Abstract by CLACAI .

ABSTRACT: In September 2021, the Mexican Supreme Court issued a decision disallowing any federal or local judicial authority to indict someone for the offense of voluntary or consensual abortion. This decision also declared unconstitutional penalties imposed on medical personnel who facilitate or assist such procedures. Furthermore, the Court decided that limiting access to abortion in cases of rape to a specific time frame was disproportionate. Later on, in September 2023, the Supreme Court confirmed that absolute criminalization of abortion was unconstitutional and declared that the rule supporting criminalization in the Federal Penal Code was without effects. Consequently, healthcare providers who work in public federal health institutions cannot be criminalized for guaranteeing the right to abortion. This article reviews the reasons advanced by the Supreme Court to guarantee the right of reproductive self-determination, as well as the effects of both decisions beyond the decriminalization of abortion by Mexican federal and state legislatures. The paper also examines the scope and limitations of these rulings and identifies the remaining challenges regarding voluntary abortion procedures in Mexico.

The entire article can be read or downloaded here: Article and Abstract Online. 

Spanish translation of Abstract by CLACAI.

OTHER RELEVANT RESOURCES:

The new Mexican decision: 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 in the session of September 6, 2023. Official Press release in Spanish.  Decision in Spanish. 

“Recursos Jurídicos” del RepoCLACAI – For a comprehensive and searchable database of legal resources on abortion care in Latin America, visit the Legal Section of the CLACAI Repository “Recursos Juridicos” online.

Abortion Law Decisions webpages, now updated in English and in Spanish.

Ethical and Legal Issues in Reproductive Health – more than 110 other concise articles are online here.
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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.

Conscience Wars in the Americas

Congratulations to Douglas NeJaime and Reva Siegel, Professors of Law at Yale University, whose article on “Conscience Wars in the Americas” was recently published by the Latin American Law Review in two languages, English and Spanish. We are pleased to circulate the authors’ abstract:

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

Abstract:
Across the globe, public and private actors are now invoking conscience as a ground for objecting to laws or judicial decisions that confer on citizens reproductive and LGBT rights. Conscience claims in culture-war conflicts over reproduction and sexuality differ from paradigmatic religious accommodation claims, where an individual from a minority faith seeks to engage in ritual observance or religiously-motivated dress that runs afoul of generally applicable laws. Accommodation of culture-war conscience claims may inflict significant harms on other citizens and impose older, traditional views on citizens whose rights the law only recently has come to protect.

Our intervention is practical and critical. We offer guidance on accommodation, showing how government might promote pluralism by accommodating objectors while protecting citizens who may be affected. We suggest that when government accommodates conscience in a framework that does not preserve the other citizens’ rights, government may be employing accommodation to create a de facto public order favoring objectors’ beliefs.

Keywords: Conscience, Conscientious Objection, Religious Accommodation, Reproductive Rights, LGBT, SOGIE

RELATED RESOURCES

Conscientious Objection / The Right to Conscience: Annotated Bibliography online.

“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, 2018), pp. 187-219. Online at SSRN.

“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 Right Journal 22./2 (Dec. 2020): 271 – 384. Abstract and article online. Informe en Espanol.
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REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – August 2018

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DEVELOPMENTS:

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

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

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

CALL FOR PAPERS:

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

SCHOLARSHIP:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Indications for abortion: new annotated bibliographies:

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

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

JOBS

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

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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.

 

 

 

 

Causal violación y/o incesto en casos de aborto – Recursos bibliográficos

Muchas gracias a Maria Mercedes Cavallo, LL.M., abogada y estudiante de doctorado en la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Toronto, por preparar esta bibliografía de 42 paginas sobre Causal violación y/o incesto por el Programa Internacional de Derecho en Salud Sexual y Reproductivas, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Toronto, Canada.

“Selección de doctrina y jurisprudencia latinoamericanas sobre la causal violación y/o incesto en casos de aborto”
(Recursos bibliográficos en espanol)

SUMARIO:

1. Legislación y resoluciones administrativas

2. Jurisprudencia domestica

3. Jurisprudencia Internacional

4. Recursos bibliográficos

5. Agradecimiento

Causal violación y/o incesto (bibliografia en espanol)
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LINKS to new Annotated Bibliographies:
Rape or Incest indication for abortion
Rape or Incest indication for abortion (in Spanish)
Fetal anomaly indication for abortion
The Right to Conscience.
_____________________________________________________________________________
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.

Symposium on Chilean Constitutional Court’s Abortion Decision

Congratulations to the International Journal of Constitutional Law‘s I-CONnect Blog, which features a special symposium as we approach the one-year anniversary of the Chilean Constitutional Court’s abortion decision of August 28, 2017. The symposium was published over six days, including the following Introduction. by Professor Marta Rodriguez de Assis Machado,* Full Professor of Law at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) Law School, São Paulo, Brazil, who convened this important symposium for the benefit of the I-CONnect community and indeed for the entire field.

The Chilean Constitutional Court’s Abortion Decision: Five Perspectives

an  I-CONnect Symposium 

convened and introduced by Marta Rodriguez de Assis Machado

Last August, the Chilean Constitutional Court ruled on the constitutionality of Bill No. 9895-11. The Bill sought to decriminalize the voluntary interruption of pregnancy on three legal grounds: when the woman is at “risk to life”; when the embryo or fetus has a congenital pathology that is incompatible with independent extrauterine life; and when the pregnancy is the result of a rape. The law had been approved in Parliament one year prior, with strong support from President Michelle Bachelet and feminist social movements that have for years campaigned against the country’s very strict legislation on the issue–one of the few countries in the world at the time that still prohibited abortion in all circumstances.

In a new front in the battle over the constitutionalization of abortion in Latin America, some Senators brought before the Court two petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Bill. The petitioners based their claim mainly on Article 19, No. 1, Paragraph 2 of the Chilean Constitution, which protects the life of the unborn. They also questioned the parts of the Bill that regulated conscientious objection, allowing it for individual doctors and medical staff, but obliging medical institutions to guarantee that the woman will have access to the procedure carried out by non-objecting professionals.

In a majority decision, the Court dismissed the petition and recognized the constitutionality of each of the three grounds.

According to the Court, the unborn cannot be protected without regard to the rights of women. Moreover, the Constitution does not authorize the State to endanger the life of the pregnant woman, nor does it require her to bear duties beyond what is required of any other person.

On the other hand, the Court partially accepted the objection raised by the petitioners regarding conscientious objection by medical institutions. According to the Court, conscientious objection can legitimately be raised by legal entities or private associations. The Court extended to such institutions the same freedom of thought that the Constitution grants to individuals.

There remains much to be discussed, both on the importance of the ruling as a judicial precedent and on the hurdles to its implementation.

As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Court’s judgment, we are pleased to bring together five different views on the decision, addressing its progressive features and also its downsides, ambivalences and challenges. We are thankful to the following scholars for their contributions to this special symposium. Their perspectives were published in the 5-day symposium:

1. Blanca Rodriguez-Ruiz, University of Seville, Spain:
   “Door Opened and Left Ajar,”  I-CONnect blog, August 1, 2018.
2. David Kenny, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland:
   “Constitutional Constraints on Abortion Regulation: Chile and Ireland,” I-CONnect blog, August 2, 2018.
3. Gabriela Rondon, Sinara Gumieri and Luciana Brito, researchers at Anis – Institute of Bioethics, Brazil,
   “Lessons for Neighboring Latin American Courts,” I-CONnect blog, August 3, 2018.
4. Isabel C. Jaramillo Sierra, coordinator of the Research Group on Law and Gender (IDEGE), Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. Founding member of RED-ALAS.
   “Finding and Losing Women in Abortion Law Reform: The Case of the Chilean Constitutional Decision on Law 21030,“ I-CONnect blog, August 4, 2018.
5. José Manuel Díez de Valdez, Director of the Centre of Constitutional Justice, Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile,
   “More Questions than Answers,” I-CONnect blog, August 5, 2018.

We are also extremely grateful to the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program of the University of Toronto for providing an unofficial English translation of the full decision of August 28, 2017, freely available in English here.  I am grateful as well to Linda Hutjens, Sergio Verdugo and Veronica Undurraga who helped to put this symposium together.

The full decision and related materials are available in Spanish at the following weblinks:   Decision in Spanish.    Summary in Spanish.   Accompanying documents.    Other submissions.

Suggested Citation: Marta Rodriguez de Assis Machado, Introduction to I-CONnect Symposium–The Chilean Constitutional Court’s Abortion Decision: Five Perspectives, Int’l J. Const. L. Blog, July 31, 2018,   http://www.iconnectblog.com/2018/07/introduction-to-i-connect-symposium-the-chilean-constitutional-courts-abortion-decision-five-perspectives/

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*Marta Rodriguez de Assis Machado is also a Researcher at the Brazilian Centre of Analysis and Planning – CEBRAP; Global Fellow at the Centre on Law and Social Transformation, Norway; and Fellow at the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, University of Toronto.
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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.

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – May 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:

[Africa – Kenya]  J O O (also known as J M) v Attorney General & 6 others [2018] Petition No 5 of 2014, (High Court of Kenya at Bungoma).  [obstetric violence – abuse of pregnant women in healthcare system] 
Decision of March 22, 2018.

[Africa – Malawi, vagrancy] Mayeso Gwanda v. the State, Constitutional Case No 5. 2015  (High Court of Malawi. [successful human rights challenge involving an itinerant male vendor] Decision of January 10, 2017
— This decision cites the unreported case of Stella Mwanza and 12 Others v. Republic, Confirmation Criminal Case No. 1049 of 2007 (Malawi) [re 13 women arrested on streets after dark] discussed Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts  (Pretoria, Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), 2017), p. 127  PDF of book, 228 pages. Online edition

[Mexico] Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación, Segunda Sala [Supreme Court] 2018,  Amparo en Revisión 601/2017 (Ciudad de Mexico) April 4, 2018.  [Case of “Marimar”- raped minor should not have been denied abortion by hospital]   Decision in Spanish.   News report in English.

[Mexico] Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación, Segunda Sala [Supreme Court] 2018,  Amparo en Revisión 1170/2017 (Ciudad de Mexico) April 18, 2018.  [Case of Fernanda – public institutions must allow abortions to raped minor]  Decision in Spanish.     Same news report in English.

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

CONFERENCE

V Latin American Congress on Reproductive Rights, Santa Marta, Colombia, November 1-3, 2018.    Congress website in Spanish.  Latin American Judges and Magistrates of the highest courts will gather to foster the inclusion of a gender perspective in judicial decisions regarding reproductive rights:  Synopsis in English.

Audio-visual resources from previous IV Latin American Conference, held in Lima Peru Nov 2-4, 2015, now published online, include many talks in Spanish, and some in English:
◊   Rebecca Cook, “Gender Stereotypes: Transnational Legal Perspectives,” (Nov. 3, 2015)   Video.     Slides
◊  Marge Berer, “Violence and Reproductive Rights.” (Nov. 3, 2015)  Video
◊   Joanna Erdman, “Violence against Women and Reproductive Rights: Revealing Connections.”  Nov. 2, 2015    Video.     Slides

SCHOLARSHIP:

Abortion Law Decisions online, a Table of Cases with links, recently updated.  English.   Spanish.

[abortion] “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.  Abstract.     PDF online for 12 months.   Submitted text at SSRN.

“Abortion in Poland: politics, progression and regression,” by Julia Hussein, Jane Cottingham, Wanda Nowicka & Eszter Kismodi,  Reproductive Health Matters 26:52 (May 2018): 14-17.   Editorial online.

[conscience, Human Rights Committee, Ireland]:
“Sir Nigel Rodley’s Insights on the Feminist Transformation of the Right of Conscience,”  by Rebecca Cook,  Human Rights Quarterly 40.2 (May 2018): 255-259.   Abstract and Article.

[conscience, U.S.A.] “Divisions, New and Old — Conscience and Religious Freedom at HHS by Lisa H. Harris, New England Journal of Medicine 478.15 (April 12 2018): 1369-1371.   Article online.

[Ireland] “Conscientious Objection, Harm Reduction and Abortion Care,” by Ruth Fletcher, in: Mary Donnelly and Claire Murray eds.  Ethical and legal debates in Irish healthcare: Confronting complexities Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016, ISBN: 978-0-7190-9946-5, Book details.     Abstract and Chapter online.

[Ireland] “Reproductive justice in Ireland: a feminist analysis of the Neary and Halappanavar cases” by Joan McCarthy, in: Mary Donnelly and Claire Murray eds.  Ethical and legal debates in Irish healthcare: Confronting complexities Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016, ISBN: 978-0-7190-9946-5, Book details.   Abstract of Chapter.

[Ireland – medical abortion] “Empowerment and Privacy? Home Use of Abortion Pills in the Republic of Ireland,” by Sally Sheldon, Journal of Women in Culture and Society 43.4(Summer 2018): 823-849.   Abstract and Article.

[Malawi] “Adolescent sex and ‘defilement’ in Malawi law and society,” by Godfrey D. Kangaude 17 (2017) African Human Rights Law Journal 527-549.    Article online.   Abstract with other African resources.

[medical abortion]  “Medical abortion pills have the potential to change everything about abortion,” introduction by  Marge Berer and Lesley Hoggart to special issue of Contraception 97.2 (Feb 2018″ 79–81.  Sections on medical abortion potential, women’s experiences, pharmacy provision, role of health system and providers, and research agenda.   Table of Contents, Medical Abortion special issue.

[Uruguay, human rights]  “Legal barriers to access abortion services through a human rights lens: the Uruguayan experience,” by Lucía Berro Pizzarossa, Reproductive Health Matters 26.52 (2018): 1-8    Abstract and article.

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

NEWS:

German doctor will appeal 6000-euro fine for “advertising” abortions among other medical specialties on her website.  Comment by Stephanie Schlitt, “Criminal prohibition of abortion ‘advertising’ restricts information provision,” Brief comment.  Detailed comment.

Ireland:  May 25th 2018 Referendum voted to repeal article 40.3.3 “the eighth amendment” which had enshrined a ban on abortion.” Law reform expected.  Christina Zampas editorial in Irish Examiner: “Yes Vote would give hope to millions. . . “.     Irish Times newspaper analyzes results.

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.

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – March 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.

SCHOLARSHIP:

“Abortion by telemedicine in Northern Ireland: patient and professional rights across borders,” by Tamara Hervey and Sally Sheldon. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly (2017) 68.1: 1-33    Article online.  Submitted Text.

Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies, ed. Rebecca J. Cook, Joanna N. Erdman and Bernard M. Dickens (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014),  Table of Contents with chapter summaries.     Table of Cases.   English edition. now  in paperback, 20% discount code PH70. —–Spanish edition:  El aborto en el derecho transnacional: casos y controversias,  ed. Rebecca J. Cook, Joanna N. Erdman y Bernard M. Dickens (Mexico: FCE/CIDE, 2016)   En espanol, 2016: Fondo de Cultura Económica y Libreria CIDE.   Índice con resúmenes de todos capítulos    Tabla de jurisprudencia.

Abortion Law Decisions online, a Table of Cases with links.  English.   Spanish.

[abortion law, South Korea]  A critical assessment of abortion law and its implementation in South Korea, by Hyosin Kim & Hyun-A Bae, Asian Journal of Women’s Studies, 24.1 (2018): 71-87, Abstract and article.

“Access to Abortion in Cases of Fatal Fetal Abnormality: A New Direction for the European Court of Human Rights?” by Dr. Bríd Ní Ghráinne,  and Dr Aisling McMahon,  (March 12, 2018). 31-page working paper

[Africa] Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts  (Pretoria, Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), 2017).  PDF 228 page book.  Previous volumes online at CRR.      Printed edition from PULP.
Online edition with links to decisions and updates.

Breaking Ground 2018: Treaty Monitoring Bodies on Reproductive Rights, 3rd edition, by the Center for Reproductive Rights, summarizes United Nations jurisprudence, especially the standards being adopted on reproductive health information and contraception, maternal health care, and abortion.  54 page report.

[Chile] Landmark abortion law ruling by Constitutional Court of Chile, August 28, 2017 is now in English with its official synthesis and a table of contents.   Decision translated to English    Amicus curiae briefs also in English:  (1)  decriminalization of abortion Spanish and English;   (2) conscience and conscientious objection:  Spanish  and English.
Spanish Decision “Descargar Sentencia”.   Accompanying documents.  Submissions.      Síntesis.

“The Costs of Conscience,” by Micah Schwartzman, Nelson Tebbe, and Richard Schragger (March 2018) Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper No. 2018-14.  Abstract and article. 

FIGO Bioethics Curriculum:  Introduction to Principles and Practice of Bioethics: Case Studies in Women’s Health, now in Spanish.  Table of Contents and List of Case Studies.   Curriculum in English.  Curriculum in Spanish

“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.

Reproductive Health and Human Rights:  Integrating Medicine, Ethics and Law, (Oxford University Press, 2003)  Portuguese, 602 pages and Spanish (both now free online).    English  (through Oxford Scholarship Online)  French paperback.     Case Studies in Arabic online

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

NEWS:

Ireland:  May 25th 2018 date for Referendum on abortion “Voters will be asked if they want to repeal article 40.3.3 – known as the eighth amendment – which since 1983 has given unborn foetuses and pregnant women an equal right to life . . . enshrining a ban on abortion in the country’s constitution.”  If repealed, government will allow abortion within 12 weeks of pregnancy. Guardian newspaper

Paraguay’s harsh abortion law endangers adolescents.  Raped 14-year-old girl with pregnancy complications dies during caesarean section to save baby.  Human Rights Watch report

 

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.

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – Jan. 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.

LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS

Africa:  Madagascar – New Family Planning Act enacted Jan. 18, 2018 sweeps away the old colonial-era policy that prohibited any promotion of contraception, and recognizes reproductive health and family planning as basic human rights says Family Planning 2020.   However, planned inclusion of therapeutic abortion “sabotaged” at Senate level.   Summary by Safe Abortion.   News report in French.

 

SCHOLARSHIP:

Abortion by telemedicine in Northern Ireland: patient and professional rights across borders, by Tamara Hervey and Sally Sheldon. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly (2017) 68.1: 1-33    Article online. 

[abortion law, conscientious objection, Chile]   “A critical review of conscientious objection and decriminalisation of abortion in Chile,” by Adela Montero and Raúl Villarroel,  Journal of Medical Ethics, preview online Jan. 6, 2018 

[abortion law in Sweden, Norway and Finland]  Dropping the ball or holding the line? Challenges to abortion laws in the Nordic countries, Heli Askola (Faculty of Law, Monash University)  Women’s Studies International Forum 66 (Jan-Feb 2018): 25-32.
Institutional access

[abortion Law, 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): preview online Jan. 17, 2018

Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies, ed. Rebecca J. Cook, Joanna N. Erdman and Bernard M. Dickens (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014), now also in Spanish (see next entry) and in paperback, 20% discount code PH70.  English edition.  Table of Contents with chapter summaries. 
Abortion Decisions Online
El aborto en el derecho transnacional: casos y controversias,  ed. Rebecca J. Cook, Joanna N. Erdman y Bernard M. Dickens (Mexico: FCE/CIDE, 2016)   En espanol, 2016: Fondo de Cultura Económica y  Libreria CIDE.   Índice con resúmenes de capítulos 1-16
Decisiones Judiciales sobre aborto en línea

[Africa] Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts  (Pretoria, Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), 2017).  PDF 228 page book.  Previous volumes PDF online at CRR.      Printed edition from PULP.
Online edition with links to decisions and updates.

FIGO Bioethics Curriculum:  Introduction to Principles and Practice of Bioethics: Case Studies in Women’s Health.  Table of Contents and List of Case Studies    Curriculum in English.  Curriculum in Spanish    Ahora en Español!

“Freedom of conscience in Europe?  An analysis of three cases of midwives with conscientious objection to abortion,” by Valerie Fleming, Beate Ramsayer, Teja Škodič Zakšek, Journal of Medical Ethics (2018) 44: 104-108  Article online.

Portuguese edition online: Reproductive Health and Human Rights:  Integrating Medicine, Ethics and Law, (Oxford University Press, 2003)  English  (Oxford Scholarship Online)  en Francais    en Portugues, 602 pages\.  Spanish / Español    Case Studies in Arabic

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

NEWS:

New “Framework Convention on Global Health Alliance“ aims to facilitate a coordinated global treaty for the Right to “the highest attainable level of health.”  For an overview, see: “Turning the Right to Health into the Lived Reality for Everyone” by Dr. Martin Hevia (Founding Chair):  Overview online.

Canada:  Court dismisses anti-abortion group’s injunction request about refusal of Canada Summer Jobs funding.  News report.

Germany:  Doctor fined 6000 euros for illegally “advertising” abortions, having listed “abortion” among other medical specialties on her website.   It is illegal to advertise abortion services in a way that is to one’s own economic advantage.  News article.  Section 219a of the German criminal code, in German.     See new comment by Stephanie Schlitt, “Criminal prohibition of abortion “advertising” restricts information provision,” Brief comment.     Detailed comment.

Ireland:  Government announces referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Constitution which limits abortion access, following recommendations of the Joint Committee of the Irish Parliament (the Oireachtas).  Jan. 30, 2018 news.  Comment by Christina Zampas.
Comment by Mercedes Cavallo.

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.

REPROHEALTHLAW Updates – Dec. 2017

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DEVELOPMENTS

Bolivia:   decriminalized abortion within 8 weeks of pregnancy for “students, adolescents, or girls” presumably under 18 years old.  National Assembly vote was December 6, 2017.  President will sign.  Press release from Ipas Bolivia.

Ireland:  After months of hearings, special parliamentary committee voted to recommend repealing the controversial “eighth amendment” to the Irish constitution which protects “the right to life of the unborn.”  Referendum promised in early summer 2018.  BBC Report.
See also: Christina Zampas, presentation on Ireland’s international human rights obligations: Video (see 2:27-2:45)  Transcript Oct 4, 2017.  Comment by Christina Zampas.

CALL FOR PAPERS

on Reproductive Health in Latin America (Ethical and Legal Issues welcome), for publication in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetics (IJGO): Re: the XXII FIGO World Congress of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Rio de Janeiro in October 2018.  Submit by February 28, 2018 for peer review. IJGO guidelines and call for papers on Latin America

Audre Rapoport Prize for Scholarship on Gender and Human Rights is awarded annually to the winner of an interdisciplinary writing competition on international human rights and gender.   $1000 prize honors the work of Audre Rapoport (1923-2016), who advocated for women in the United States and internationally, particularly on issues of reproductive health.  University students eligible.  Submit by July 1, 2018.
Details and papers by past winners online

SCHOLARSHIP:

[Europe]  Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Europe (France: Council of Europe, Dec 2017), prepared by Leah Hoctor, Adriana Lamačková and Katrine Thomasen, with assistance from Jessica
Boulet, from the Europe Program at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Overview, Summary and 78-page Issue Paper.

[Slovakia – Discrimination against Roma women in reproductive healthcare]:
Vakeras Zorales – Speaking Out: Roma Women’s Experiences in Reproductive Health Care in Slovakia, by the Center for Reproductive Rights and the [Slovak] Center for Civil and Human Rights (Poradna)  Report online.  Overview.   44-page Report

Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies, ed. Rebecca J. Cook, Joanna N. Erdman and Bernard M. Dickens (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014), now also in Spanish (see next entry) and in paperback, 20% discount code PH70.  English edition from U Penn Press.  Table of Contents with chapter summaries. 
Abortion Decisions Online

El aborto en el derecho transnacional: casos y controversias,  ed. Rebecca J. Cook, Joanna N. Erdman y Bernard M. Dickens (Mexico: FCE/CIDE, 2016)   En espanol, 2016: Fondo de Cultura Económica y  Libreria CIDE.     Índice con resúmenes de capítulos 1-16
Decisiones Judiciales sobre aborto en línea

[Africa] Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts  (Pretoria, Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), 2017).  PDF 228 page book.  Previous volumes PDF online at CRR.      Printed edition from PULP.
Online edition with links to decisions and updates.

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

JOBS

Jobs and Fellowships Women’s Rights and Reproductive Health, in Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.  Global Health Corps.  Apply by Jan 17, 2018  for the 2018-2019 fellowships Details online.

Reproductive Health Matters.  Director and Editor-in-Chief.  2-year renewable contract.   Apply by Jan 8, 2018.  RHM Director and Editor Position 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.

“Narrativas sobre la personalidad jurídica prenatal en la regulación del aborto,” por Alejandro Madrazo Lajous

[Narratives of Prenatal Personhood in Abortion Law]

Alejandro Madrazo Lajous, “Narrativas sobre la personalidad jurídica prenatal en la regulación del aborto” El aborto en el derecho transnacional: Casos y controversias, editoras/es  Rebecca J. Cook, Joanna N. Erdman, y Bernard M. Dickens (FCE/CIDE, 2016) págs. 415-437: en español y  en inglés.

Si bien la cuestión de la personalidad jurídica prenatal ha estado presente durante mucho tiempo en las discusiones jurídicas relacionadas con el aborto, las iniciativas legislativas y decisiones judiciales recientes parecen decirnos que su importancia será cada vez mayor.

En este anteúltimo capitulo de El aborto en el derecho transnacional: Casos y controversias, Alejandro Madrazo examina el significado  de  los  debates  jurídicos  en  México y otros países sobre la condición de persona del feto en relación con el ejercicio de las mujeres de sus derechos reproductivos. Su preocupación no descansa en asuntos estrictos de interpretación jurídica, sino en el papel que desempeñan en la formulación de debates públicos sobre el aborto. Dejar de lado la cuestión fundamental sobre la condición de persona del feto puede tener consecuencias catastróficas para los derechos de las mujeres en general y para sus derechos sexuales y reproductivos en particular, en parte al facilitar el uso del derecho penal en vez del derecho constitucional como modalidad de razonamiento.

Además, la  protección  de  la  personalidad  jurídica  del no nacido usualmente no es utilizada de forma crítica por sus proponentes, sino que  más  bien  es  un  argumento  para  justificar  las  restricciones  que  se  oponen a los derechos sexuales y reproductivos de las mujeres y, más específicamente, para obstaculizar su derecho a decidir. Los argumentos sobre la condición  de  persona  del  feto  permiten  narrativas  simplificadas  centradas en el acto del aborto más que en las circunstancias de las mujeres que dan lugar a embarazos no deseados.

En este capítulo, Prof. Madrazo se propone abordar las consecuencias de otorgar el estatus jurídico de Persona a la vida prenatal, a partir de un estudio de lo que ha ocurrido recientemente en varios países de América Latina, principalmente. Sus preguntas son: ¿cuáles son las consecuencias de concebir la vida prenatal, en sus diferentes etapas, como una “persona” desde la perspectiva jurídica? ¿Cuáles son las consecuencias cuando se le niega esa condición?

 El aborto en el derecho transnacional: casos y controversias:  en español    en inglés.      Sumario y Índice General
Descargar: Reseña del libro en Andamios, por Diego Garcia Ricci
Introducción y Prólogo. 

Otros capitulos de la cuarta parte del libro:
—Lisa Kelly, “El tratamiento de las narrativas del sufrimiento inocente en el litigio transnacional del aborto”  págs. 383-414.   Resumen.

—Rebecca Cook, “Significados estigmatizados del derecho penal sobre el aborto,” págs. 438-467  Resumen.

Tabla de Casos/Jurisprudencia sobre aborto, con enlaces a muchas de las decisiones judiciales

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