How Laws Fail the Promise of Medical Abortion: A Global Look
16 Pages Posted: 17 Oct 2017
Date Written: May 26, 2017
Abstract
In order to uphold rights to life and health, national governments must reduce death from abortions. Women who cannot get safe abortions risk their lives and health by turning to unsafe methods. But medical abortion promises to reduce risk to women’s health and lives, particularly for women who lack access to healthcare providers. Abortions that are not authorized or performed by a health care provider are becoming safer with the increasing use of misoprostol. In this paper (written in 2016, before important studies were published), I show how global human rights standards and national laws fail to live up to the promise of medical abortion. Even as governments around the world are liberalizing their abortion laws, the vast majority of countries still legally require one or more healthcare providers to approve or perform abortion. Such requirements criminalize women who lack access to healthcare providers and seek abortions without one. Such women are often the world’s poorest and most marginalized women.
Keywords: abortion; criminal law; self-use; misoprostol
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