In 2004, three associations sent the ship Borndiep to Portugal where abortion was illegal that would stage activities promoting the decriminalization of abortion including distribution of drugs that can induce abortion. Aware of the project, the Portuguese Government prevented the boat from entering its national territory. The three plaintiffs sued Portugal in national courts, which …Read more

The petitioner brought an tutela action (appeal for legal protection) against SALUDVIDA E.P.S., a health insurance company, for violation of her right to surgical abortion, seeking legal protection of her right to psychological and physical integrity and permission to have an abortion. The petitioner claimed that during the fifth month of her pregnancy, her fetus had …Read more

The Respondents, doctors who performed second-trimester abortions, brought suit challenging the constitutionality of the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 (the Act). The Act banned second trimester abortions using the “intact Dilation & Extraction” (intact D&E) method in which the doctor removed the fetus intact, or largely intact, rather than breaking the fetus …Read more

The plaintiff- Jackson Women’s Health Organisation filed a motion challenging a provision in the Mississippi Code stating, “abortion procedures after the first-trimester shall be performed only at an ambulatory surgical facility or hospitals licensed to perform that service, and for related purposes. The plaintiff alleged that this provision had effectively banned it from performing abortions …Read more

The Respondent, the Attorney General of the United States, appealed a district court order quashing a subpoena that commanded Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) to produce the medical records of certain patients. The records were to be used in an upcoming suit challenging the constitutionality of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The records contained …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

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

Respondents, including Pennsylvania physicians, abortion counselors and providers, brought this challenge to provisions of Pennsylvania’s Abortion Control Act 1982 (the Act). The Act imposed the following conditions on the provision of abortion services in Pennsylvania: 1.     The informed consent provision (§ 3205) required women to be informed of: The name of the physician performing the …Read more

The Respondents, a licensed obstetrician and several non-profit organizations, brought suit claiming that § 5(a) of the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act of 1974 (the Act) was unconstitutionally vague. Section 5(a) of the Act required every person who performed or induced an abortion to have made a determination, based on “experience, judgment or professional competence,” that …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