In 2000, the Ombudsman of Bolivia, on behalf of the victim, lodged a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleging that victim was submitted to a surgical procedure of ligature of the fallopian tubes in a public hospital without her informed consent and this was therefore an involuntary sterilization. The Ombudsman further alleged …Read more

Applicant, a Polish national, claimed violations of Articles 2 (right to life) and 6 (timely investigation) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) when he was unable to convince authorities to investigate potential mistreatment of his wife, who fell into a coma and died during labor after receiving an epidural. Following the wife’s death, …Read more

Women petitioners brought a tutela action (appeal for legal protection) requesting that the Court declare unconstitutional particular provisions of the Penal Code (Articles 122 (criminalized abortion), 123 (criminalized abortion without consent), and 124 (mitigating circumstances)) that criminalized abortion, claiming that, first, the doctrine of res judicata did not apply to them with regards to previous decisions …Read more

The Applicant, Sue Axon, alleged that the Family Planning Association violated the rights of parents under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) (right to respect for private and family life). The Association provided confidential advice and treatment regarding contraception, sexually transmitted infections and abortion to persons under the age of sixteen …Read more

K.L was a 17 year old pregnant woman who was denied an abortion despite complications in her pregnancy. The foetus was anencephalic. Peruvian abortion laws allowed abortions in case there was a danger to the life or health of the mother. Anencephalic condition posed a life-threatening risk to K.L. The baby died after four days …Read more

A group of NGOs lodged a petition with the Commission alleging that Peru violated Maria Mamérita Mestanza Chávez’s rights on account of a forced sterilization that resulted in her death. Peru implemented a family planning policy involving compulsory and systematic sterilization in order to modify the reproductive behavior of the population. Poor, indigenous, and rural …Read more

The Constitutional Court was asked to determine whether the appellant (Government) was required to give effect, pending an appeal, to an order of the High Court which directed it to make the drug nevirapine available to mothers and their newborn babies in public health facilities under certain circumstances and conditions. The order concerned the programme …Read more

The government of South Africa developed a national public health program to address mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The purpose of the program was to offer HIV-positive pregnant women nevirapine, a drug that prevents the transmission of HIV at birth, free of charge. The program was, however, limited in scope. It only offered nevirapine at certain …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

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