Before the promulgation of the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Act, 78 senators made a referral to the French constitutional court challenging the constitutionality of the new bill according to article 61 of the French Constitution. The Act had three components. It extended to 12 weeks the period of time a woman could have an abortion …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

The Applicants were two Irish companies that provided counseling to pregnant women, Open Door Counselling Ltd. and Dublin Well Woman Centre Ltd.; two counselors who worked for Dublin Well Woman, Bonnie Maher and Ann Downes; and two women of childbearing age, Mrs. X and Mrs. Geraghty. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children brought …Read more

The Appellant, an obstetrician gynaecologist, brought suit challenging the constitutionality of a Virginia statute, which required second-trimester abortions to be performed in a licensed hospital. The Appellant instituted these proceedings after he was indicted for unlawfully performing an abortion during the second trimester of a pregnancy outside of a licensed hospital. The Appellant performed an …Read more

The Respondent, McRae, a Medicaid recipient seeking an abortion, brought a class action suit challenging the constitutional validity of the ‘Hyde Amendment’, which prohibited federal reimbursement under the Medicaid system for some abortions which were medically necessary. As established by an amendment to Title XIX of the Social Security Act in 1965, the Medicaid system …Read more

Petitioners brought this challenge to provisions of the Texas Penal Code, which prohibited anyone from procuring or attempting an abortion, except on “medical advice for the purpose of saving the life of the mother.” Petitioner Jane Roe was an unmarried, pregnant woman who sought to terminate her pregnancy by an abortion “performed by a competent, …Read more

In June 1960, Wilhelmina Richter was admitted to Korle Bu Hospital. She was suffering from general peritonitis and told the doctors that an operation had been performed on her to procure an abortion. Ms. Richter had become pregnant in February of 1960 and, according to her testimony, approached Mr. Kesson, then a senior master for …Read more