Christian Lawyers’ Association (“plaintiff”) submitted an action seeking to find unconstitutional sections of the Choice on Termination of pregnancy Act 92 of 1996 (“the Act”). The sections enabled women under the age of 18 to terminate their pregnancy without restrictions such as parental consent, parental consultation, required counselling, or a waiting period (collectively called “parental …Read more

The Respondent, the Attorney General of the United States, appealed a district court order quashing a subpoena that commanded Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) to produce the medical records of certain patients. The records were to be used in an upcoming suit challenging the constitutionality of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The records contained …Read more

Mrs. Thi-Nho Vo attended Lyons General Hospital for a medical examination during her pregnancy. On the same day, another woman, Mrs. Thi Thanh Van Vo, was at the hospital to have a contraceptive coil removed. When Dr. G, the doctor who was to remove the coil from Mrs. Thi Thanh Van Vo, asked for ‘Mrs. …Read more

In 1996, the government of India had passed the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1995 (the “PNDT Act”) which was aimed at preventing the misuse of sex determination technology to abort girl children before birth.  Female feticide had become an increasingly frequent practice in India despite the implementations of reforms that attempted …Read more

The respondent was charged with maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm to Kylie Flick with intent to do grievous bodily harm. Prior to the crime, the respondent and Ms. Flick engaged in a single act of consensual sexual intercourse after which Ms. Flick became pregnant. The respondent sought to persuade Ms. Flick to have an abortion, …Read more

The applicant, an Italian national, claimed violations under Articles 2 (right to life), 8 (respect for private and family life) and 12 (right to marry and family) of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention) after his wife obtained a legal abortion without his consent. Prior to bringing an action in the European Court of …Read more

Certain delegates referred the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy (Abortion) and Contraception Act to the Constitutional Court in order to challenge it. Under the relevant paragraphs of the Constitution, the 15-day period in which the President must act to promulgate an act after its final adoption could only be suspended where such act was referred to …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

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