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DEVELOPMENTS

—JURISPRUDENCE:

Caribbean, abortion law: Historic constitutional challenges to colonial-era abortion laws were filed in Dominica and in Antigua and Barbuda. PDF Press release of April 29, 2024

[Colombia, abortion privacy] Constitutional Court Sentencia T-402-24, Expediente T-9.578.252, September 23, 2024, Entire decision online in Spanish. Backup copy of decision. [The Court ruled that a hospital violated a patient’s rights by disclosing her medical records without consent, which led to calls and messages pressuring her to reconsider her decision to undergo abortion.]

[Ecuador, abortion, minor] Norma v. Ecuador, CCPR/C/142/D/3628/2019. January 17, 2025, UN Human Rights Committee  Decision online.  Advance unedited version in Spanish. Official Press release in English.Press release in Spanish. [Ecuador violated ICCPR by denying abortion to a minor repeatedly raped by grandfather who  carried incestuous pregnancy to term)].

[El Salvador,] Beatriz et al. v. El Salvador. Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (ser. C) No. 549 (November 22, 2024).  Press Release in English. Press Release in Spanish.  Decision in Spanish (105 pages).  Official abstract in Spanish.  Abstract in English. Voto Concurrente y Parcialmente Disidente. Unofficial translation of Concurring/Dissenting Opinion of Judge Sierra Porta.  [El Salvador violated the right to health and committed obstetric violence against a woman with a high-risk pregnancy and an anencephalic fetus by denying her access to an abortion.] Abstract by Dana Repka

[Nicaragua, abortion, minor] Lucia v. Nicaragua, CCPR/C/142/D/3627/2019.  January 17, 2025, UN Human Rights Committee.  Decision online.  Advance unedited version in Spanish. Official Press release in English. Press release in Spanish. [Nicaragua, where all abortion is criminalized, violated ICCPR by denying abortion to a minor (repeatedly raped by a priest} who carried this pregnancy to term].

[Nicaragua, abortion, minor] Susana v. Nicaragua.  CCPR/C/142/D/3626/2019.  January 17, 2025, UN Human Rights Committee.  Decision online.  Advance unedited version in Spanish.  Official Press release in English. Press release in Spanish. [Nicaragua, where all abortion is criminalized, violated ICCPR by denying abortion to a minor (repeatedly raped by her grandfather) who carried incestuous pregnancy to term.

[Nigeria, maternal mortality] Community Law Centre and Three Others on behalf on the Five Victims v. Federal Republic of Nigeria. (2023) Communication 564 of 2015, [2023] ACHPR 1 (3-23 May 2023) (African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights). Decision adopted May 23, 2023. Backup copy. [Despite evidence of high maternal mortality and obstetric violence in Nigeria, the Commission did not find violations of the African Charter and the African Women’s Protocol (Maputo Protocol) arising from the complaints made.] Abstract and article by Ebenezer Durojaye and Nkatha Murungi.

[Poland, CEDAW] Report of the Inquiry concerning Poland conducted under article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention (2024)  U.N.  Doc. CEDAW/C/POL/IR/1  21 August 2024    English French and Spanish online.  English backup.  [This report denounced Poland’s restrictive abortion law for causing severe human rights violations.]

[Sierra Leone, discrimination] Advocaid Ltd. v. Republic of Sierra Leone.  Application No. ECW/CCJ/APP/18/22, Judgment No. ECW/CCJ/JUD/33/24 (ECOWAS Court)  Decision of November 7, 2024.  Press Release by IHRDA. [ECOWAS Court favoured Advocaid, which argued that discriminatory laws against loitering target the vulnerable and provide police with opportunities to accost, rape or sexually abuse women who cannot afford bribes.]

[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.

[Zimbabwe, abortion law] Women in Law in Southern Africa, Talent Forget v. Minister of Health and Child Care and the Parliament of the Republic of Zimbabwe and The Attorney General of Zimbabwe  (2024), HH 552-24, HC 7364/23, 28 February & 22 November 2024 (High Court of Zimbabwe at Harare).  Decision online.  Backup copy.  Comment by Afya na Haki network.  [Section 2(1) of The Termination of Pregnancy Act, which defines “unlawful intercourse” to exclude sexual intercourse with minors and marital rape, is unconstitutional because it imposes custodial sentences on women in those situations who choose to abort.  This judgment awaits confirmation by the Constitutional Court to become operational.]   

—LEGISLATION:

Australia: abortion is now fully decriminalized. News article from Safe Abortion, 2023.

France makes 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.

[Peru, child marriage] Peru 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.

SCHOLARSHIP

[abortion law] “Abortion Law Illiberalism and Feminist Politics in Comparative Perspective,” by Joanna Erdman and Paola Bergallo, 20 (October 2024) Annual Review of Law and Social Science :273-291 Abstract and article.

[abortion law, Asia] Legal Challenges in Expanding the Provider Base for Abortion in Asia, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics.168.3 (March 2025) 1345-1351.    PDF at Wiley Online.

[India] “Recent Abortion Law Reforms in India: Redefining Rape,” by J. Lakshmi Charan, Journal of Forensic Science and Medicine 10.1(Jan-Mar 2024): 72-73. Letter to the Editor

“Mapping the Cross-Border Influence of Regional and International Reproductive Rights Cases,” by Katherine Mayall, Christina Zampas, and Rosario Grimà Algora, Journal of Human Rights Practice, Volume 16, Issue 3, November 2024, Pages 852–868. Abstract online, Institutional access to full text.

[Nigeria, maternal mortality] ‘The first decision of the African Commission on maternal mortality: Community Law Centre and Others v Nigeria’ by Ebenezer Durojaye and Nkatha Murungi (2024) 8 African Human Rights Yearbook 483-504. 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.

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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 this blog, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

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