Human rights accountability for maternal death and failure to provide safe, legal abortion
The significance of two ground-breaking Cedaw decisions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3972868 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Eszter Kismodi (0000-0001-5653-8369, World Health Organization), Judith Bueno De Mesquita (0000-0002-1399-1988, University of Essex), Ximena Andión Ibañez (Information Group on Reproductive Choice), Rajat Khosla (0000-0002-4960-4994, Amnesty International), Lilian Sepúlveda (0000-0003-3789-3749, Foundation for Reproductive Medicine) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 39 |
| Pages | 31-39 |
| Publication date | 2012-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Reproductive Health Matters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0968-8080 • E-ISSN: 1460-9576 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1016/s0968-8080(12)39610-9 |
| PMID | 22789080 |
| OpenAlex | W2036603405 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 6 |
In 2011, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) issued two landmark decisions. In Alyne da Silva Pimentel v. Brazil, the first maternal death case decided by an international human rights body, it confirms that States have a human rights obligation to guarantee that all women, irrespective of their income or racial background, have access to timely, non-discriminatory, and appropriate maternal health services. In L.C. v. Peru, concerning a 13-year-old rape victim who was denied a therapeutic abortion and had an operation on her spine delayed that left her seriously disabled as a result, it established that the State should guarantee access to abortion when a woman's physical or mental health is in danger, decriminalise abortion when pregnancy results from rape or sexual abuse, review its restrictive interpretation of therapeutic abortion and establish a mechanism to ensure that reproductive rights are understood and observed in all health care facilities. Both cases affirm that accessible and good quality health services are vital to women's human rights and expand States' obligations in relation to these. They also affirm that States must ensure national accountability for sexual and reproductive health rights, and provide remedies and redress in the event of violations. And they reaffirm the importance of international human rights bodies as sources of accountability for sexual and reproductive rights violations, especially where national accountability is absent or ineffective
Abortion · Accountability · Environmental health · Family planning · Human rights · Obligation · Political science · Population · Pregnancy · Redress · Reproductive health · Reproductive rights · Therapeutic abortion · Unsafe abortion · Human Rights and Development · International Human Rights and Reproductive Law · Law · Medicine · Reproductive Health and Contraception
Violence against women’s health in international law
Why don’t humanitarian organizations provide safe abortion services
The emergence of a global right to health norm – the unresolved case of universal access to quality emergency obstetric care
Controverses autour des droits reproductifs et sexuels
Reproductive Justice
The health exception
Termination of pregnancy as emergency obstetric care
No risk, no gain
Materno-infantilism, feminism and maternal health policy in Brazil
| Citations per year | 0.64 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2012 - 2020 (9) |
| Highly cited | No |