The plaintiff filed a guarantee of protection of individual constitutional rights (amparo protection) against a public hospital in the city of Buenos Aires, to obtain the termination of a pregnancy because the fetus was anencephalic (a baby born with an underdeveloped brain and an incomplete skull), which was denied by the hospital. Abortions are illegal in …Read more

Under Islamic jurisprudence, a divorced woman is to observe her “iddah,” a mandatory period of three months, before she is eligible to remarry. During this probationary period, her marriage to her ex-husband is considered to be inactive but capable of being revitalized and reconciled. She is obligated to stay in her parents’ house, while her …Read more

Carhart, a physician who performed abortions, brought suit challenging the constitutional validity of a Nebraska statute which prohibited non-lifesaving “partial birth abortions.” The statute defined this procedure as “deliberately and intentionally delivering into the vagina a living unborn child, or a substantial portion thereof, for the purpose of performing a procedure that the person performing …Read more

Gloria Máxima Ortiz Rivera, an employee at the Municipality of Sucre, received memorandum No. 95/00 on February 22, 2000, which she claimed put her in the fifth bracket of the payroll and constituted a demotion and an indirect dismissal. Rivera asserted that upon reaching her 32nd week of pregnancy she was prevented from accepting the …Read more

S was a homosexual Portuguese national. In 1983 he married a woman, C, with whom he had a daughter. S and C subsequently separated and then divorced. Since their separation, S had been living with another man. In connection with their divorce, S and C signed an agreement giving C parental responsibility over the daughter …Read more

Living World Distributors (“LWD”) attempted to import two videos from the USA into New Zealand. The videos, which discussed aspects of homosexuality, opposed the granting of special rights to homosexuals and stated that homosexuality is one of the causes of the spread of HIV/AIDS. The videos were deemed suitable for audiences over 16 years old …Read more

The case was brought by BT on behalf of herself and on behalf of the estate of her late husband, AT, against the defendant, a general practitioner, who was AT’s doctor from 26 November 1991 to 22 January 1993. The case arose as a result of the defendant’s alleged negligent failure to diagnose AT’s HIV …Read more

Mr. Lustig-Prean and Mr. Beckett were discharged from the Royal Navy on the basis of their sexual orientation. In June 1994, Mr. Lustig-Prean was approached by military service police and, wanting to avoid further and less discrete investigations, Mr. Lustig-Prean admitted that he was homosexual. In May 1993, Mr. Beckett admitted to his superiors that …Read more

The Applicants were both exemplary members of the Royal Air Force and had been discharged solely due to being homosexual. The first appellant was an enrolled nurse.  An anonymous female caller left a message on the applicant’s answering machine stating that she knew about the applicant’s homosexuality and afterwards informed the air force authorities. In a …Read more

In 1996, Glen Fielding was sentenced to four years imprisonment. Whilst incarcerated, Fielding, a man who had sex with men, requested condoms but was refused on the basis that it was against Prison Service policy to provide condoms to a prisoner who was not HIV-positive; there was no evidence that Fielding was HIV positive. The …Read more

North West Lancashire Health Authority (the Authority), the Appellant, appealed against an order quashing the Authority’s decision to refuse gender reassignment treatment to A, D and G, the Respondents. A, D and G all suffered from “gender identity dysphoria,” or transsexualism. Each had male physical characteristics but female sexual identity. A and G had been …Read more

C’s mother was HIV infected. C, who was born in April 1999 was breastfed by her mother despite concern that this increased C’s potential to become infected by HIV if she was not already HIV positive. The local authority sought a direction for a blood test to be carried out to test C’s HIV status …Read more

Under Article 20(2) of the Interim Constitution 2063 in Nepal, every woman in Nepal had the fundamental right to reproductive health. However, there were no effective health services addressing the issue of uterine prolapse, a serious ailment affecting nearly 600,000 women in Nepal. The Petitioners, among others, Pro-Public, an organization working in the area of …Read more

Filipe Bechu was charged with the offence of rape. The Penal Code states that “Any person who has unlawful carnal act with a woman or girl, without her consent, or with her consent if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threats or intimidation of any kind, or by fear of bodily …Read more

“Evelyn” was born to Mrs. S as a result of a surrogacy arrangement with Mr. and Mrs. Q. Mr. and Mrs. Q and Mr. and Mrs. S had been close friends for some years and had shared several joint holidays. Mrs. Q had discussed her infertility with Mrs. S and after much deliberation, Mrs. S …Read more

A 36 weeks-pregnant woman, referred to as “MS”, sought care as a new patient at a local National Health Service (NHS) practice on 25th April 1996. She previously had not sought any ante-natal care. She was quickly diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a condition threatening the life and health of both her and her baby. She rejected …Read more

This case concerned the impact of Hungary’s constitutional guarantee of the right to life on its parliament’s ability to pass abortion laws. Petitioners submitted that Hungary’s Act LXXIX/1992 on the Protection of Foetal Life (“the Act”), regarding permissible abortion, was unconstitutional. The Act allowed a pregnant woman to have an abortion if she was “in …Read more

The applicant was a 17-year old Turkish national of Kurdish origin girl who lived with her parents in a village in south-east Turkey. Since 1985 serious disturbances had raged in this part of the country between the security forces and the members of a Kurdish separatist party. Turkey claimed that these had resulted in the deaths …Read more

The Applicants were the South African Human Rights Commission and a coalition of 70 organizations representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in South Africa. They brought a constitutional challenge to various statutory provisions in South Africa criminalizing homosexual acts. The Applicants claimed that the statutes in question violated sections 9, 10 and 14 of …Read more

S, who was 36 weeks pregnant, was diagnosed with severe pre-eclampsia, a life-threatening condition of pregnancy characterized by high blood pressure, and with moderate depression. She was advised that her health and her life, and that of her baby, were in real danger and that she needed to be admitted immediately to hospital for an induced …Read more

Appellant, a federal public servant, filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission (“the Commission”) on September 29, 1989 regarding the government’s refusal to provide dental care insurance coverage for her same-sex partner and her partner’s child. She claimed discrimination pursuant to the Canadian Human Rights Act (“the Act”) on the grounds of sex, …Read more

Mr. and Mrs. Blood were married and attempting to have a family. Unfortunately, Mr. Blood contracted meningitis and went into a coma prior to any conception, so Mrs. Blood requested that doctors take sperm by electro-ejaculation while Mr. Blood was in the coma. The doctors took two different samples, and Mr. Blood passed away soon …Read more

A health authority applied for a High Court declaration that it would be lawful to undertake an emergency caesarean operation on MB whose foetus was found to be in the breech position after MB agreed to have the operation theoretically but refused in practice due to her fear of needles. The declaration was granted, and …Read more

Applicants X, Y and Z were all British nationals. X is a transsexual who has undergone gender reassignment surgery to become a man. He has lived with Y, as her male partner, since 1979. The couple applied jointly for, and was granted treatment by AID to allow Y to have a child Z. X was …Read more

The applicant, a Finnish national, had been married to X, who was not a Finnish national, at the time the events occurred. They were both infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). X was convicted for rape and during the criminal proceedings the court gave orders requiring the applicant’s medical advisers to give evidence. In …Read more

Laskey (L), Jaggard (J) and Brown (B) had taken part in sado-masochistic encounters with as many as forty-four other homosexual men over a ten-year period. These mainly involved maltreatment of the genitalia and ritualistic beatings, either with the assailant’s bare hands or a variety of implements. There were instances of branding and infliction of injuries …Read more

The respondent was five months pregnant with her fourth child and addicted to glue sniffing, which is known to be potentially damaging to the nervous system of a developing fetus. Two of her previous children were born permanently disabled as a result of her addiction and were permanent wards of the state. A judge of …Read more

A group of armed persons with their faces covered by masks violently entered the home of the Mejías, abducted Mr. Mejías and later returned to the house, apparently to ask Mrs. Mejías for her husband’s identity documents. While she looked for them, one of the men followed her into the room and told her that …Read more

Petitioners (supporters of Amendment 2) brought this appeal from the Colorado State Supreme Court where that court affirmed a lower court’s ruling that Amendment 2 was invalid. Amendment 2 barred the State of Colorado from enacting, adopting or enforcing anti-discrimination laws which would have protected homosexuals, gays and lesbians. Prior to Amendment 2, multiple cities …Read more

CES (‘the first appellant’) sought damages from Superclinics (‘respondent’) for the loss of an opportunity to terminate her pregnancy. The first appellant, a 21-year-old woman, visited a doctor at Superclinics after she missed her period. She stated that if she were found to be pregnant, she would like the pregnancy terminated. The doctor did not …Read more