A blog post by Leah Frattellone, Junior Associate

            Abortion is recognized as a human right by many international frameworks, including the United Nations Human Rights Committee.[1]  Denying access to safe abortion is a violation of health, privacy, and the right to be free from cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment.[2]  Member countries of the United Nations (U.N.) may only restrict abortion to a certain extent but must ensure the restriction does not result in a violation of the right to life of a pregnant woman or any of her other human rights.[3]  Several human rights bodies have declared that extremely restrictive abortion laws are a form of discrimination against women.[4]  When women are forced to seek out unsafe abortions that result in death, it is considered “a gender-based arbitrary killing” because it is only suffered by women and is due to discrimination within the law.[5]  Member nations of the U.N. have an obligation to protect, respect, and fulfill women’s rights to abortion and abortion services.[6]  To comply with these obligations, they must remove laws that penalize women who seek abortion or medical practitioners who perform abortion, make sure that women are not prevented from accessing health services, and eliminate any barriers that will force women to turn to unsafe abortion procedures.[7]

            Roe v. Wade, decided in 1973, granted women the right to abortion in the United States (U.S.).[8]  However, Roewas recently overturned through the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which gave the power to decide abortion laws back to the states.[9]  The U.N. has already denounced the Dobbs decision, stating that it contradicts international human rights laws.[10]  An early March 2023 letter from many international charities and organizations calls on the U.N. to act on the human rights crisis caused by the Dobbs decision.[11]  The letter to the U.N. describes the ways that the Dobbs decision is in direct conflict with the United States’ obligations under international human rights law.[12]  These obligations have been codified in various human rights treaties that the U.S. has been a party to or signed.[13]  Abortion bans in the U.S. violate international rights including the right to life, healthcare, and privacy; to be free from torture and arbitrary detention; liberty and security; and anti-discrimination laws.[14]

International charities and organizations plead U.N. mandate holders to inform the U.S. that they have violated human rights, visit the U.S., and call for the U.S. to comply with these obligations.[15]

 

 

[1] Press Release, The Center for Reproductive Rights, U.N. Human Rights Committee Asserts that Access to Abortion and Prevention of Maternal Mortality are Human Rights (Oct. 31, 2018), https://reproductiverights.org/un-human-rights-committee-asserts-that-access-to-abortion-and-prevention-of-maternal-mortality-are-human-rights/.

[2] U.N. Hum. Rts. Off. Comm’r, Abortion (2020), https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/SexualHealth/INFO_Abortion_WEB.pdf.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] See id (stating that the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions has said that forcing women to seek out unsafe abortion is considered “gender-based killing”).

[6] U.N. Hum. Rts. Off. Comm’r, Info. Series Sexual & Reproductive Health & Rts.: Abortion (2020), https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/SexualHealth/INFO_Abortion_WEB.pdf.

[7] Id.

[8] Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).

[9] Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., 142 U.S. 2228 (2022).

[10] Alison Durkee, U.S. Abortion Bans Are A ‘Human Rights Crisis’ That Violate International Law, Groups Tell U.N., Forbes (Mar. 2, 2023), https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/03/02/us-abortion-bans-are-a-human-rights-crisis-that-violate-international-law-groups-tell-un/?sh=44594d8f4c62.

[11] Mun-Keat Looi, Abortion: U.N. is urged to intervene in “human rights crisis” in U.S. after ending of rights, 380 BMJ 521, 521 (2023).

[12] Id.

[13] Id.

[14] Alison Durkee, U.S. Abortion Bans Are A ‘Human Rights Crisis’ That Violate International Law, Groups Tell U.N., Forbes (Mar. 2, 2023), https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/03/02/us-abortion-bans-are-a-human-rights-crisis-that-violate-international-law-groups-tell-un/?sh=44594d8f4c62.

[15] Letter from Foley Hoag LLP et. al, Global Justice Center, to U.N. Special Procedures on Abortion Rights in the U.S. (Mar. 2, 2023) (on file with Human Rights Watch).