AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

The authors note that a systmatic review of national and international developments regarding abortion showed that the progressive liberalization of abortion laws between 1967-1977 and 1977-1988 generally has been maintained during the last decade. This article traces devlopments in national legislation, leading court decisions, and constitutional provisions on abortion worldwide and analyzes United Nations conference documents, observations made by the committees that monitor government compliance with international human rights conventions, and the interpretative literature since 1988.

The authors note that in many countries a spouse, usually the husband, can veto a partner's use of family planning services and that where spousal veto acts as a barrier to family planning services, it represents a serious threat to the lives and health of women and children. The authors point out that removal of spousal authorization requirements has been shown to increase the use of family planning services and that courts of several countries have held that spousal veto practices violate principles of personal privacy and autonomy and the right to health care.