Abortion as a Human Right : International and Regional Standards

This article summarizes the expansion of international human rights standards and jurisprudence supporting women's right to abortion. It surveys relevant developments within the United Nations, Inter-American and African human rights frameworks regarding abortion. It addresses contexts in which women's rights to life and health are implicated, such as situations of rape, incest or fetal impairment, as well as abortion based on social and economic reasons and on request. The article also touches on the growing affirmation by international human rights bodies that criminalization of abortion causes women to obtain unsafe abortions, thus threatening their lives and health.

Christina Zampas & Jaime M Gher, Abortion as a Human Right International and Regional Standards (2008) 8:2 Oxford Human Rights Law Review 249.