This case is an appeal from the High Court. An appeal from this case was dismissed by the Supreme Court in [2012] NZSC 68. A cross-appeal was filed by the respondent, the Right to Life New Zealand Inc (RTL), which asserted the lower court erred by finding the unborn child had no right to life and …Read more

The QPC (Question prioritaire de constitutionnalité) process was created in France in 2008. It allows for preliminary rulings on the conformity of a legal provision with the Constitution. This disposition challenged the 2002 law (Paragraph I of section 1 of the Act of March 4th 2002) that states “No one shall claim he has sustained …Read more

The law applicable to abortion and medically induced miscarriages in Northern Ireland was a 19th century law (the Offences against the Person Act 1861), which made it a crime to procure a miscarriage. Courts had interpreted this principle to decide that if a person who procured the abortion acted in good faith for the purpose …Read more

In an earlier decision – Right to Life New Zealand Inc v the Abortion Supervisory Committee [2008] NZHC 865 – the presiding judge reserved his opinion on whether he ought to order declaratory relief in favour of the applicant, Right to Life New Zealand Inc (RTL). In that case RTL successfully argued that the respondent, …Read more

A girl, aged 13, was a victim of rape and became pregnant as a result. The girl was affiliated with the Coomeva healthcare provider company. However, the company refused to perform a legal abortion claiming conscientious objection on the part of all of its physicians. The company then referred her to the Erasmo Meoz de …Read more

This case was amended by a Judgment on Declaratory Relief and then overruled by the Court of Appeal in [2011] NZCA 246. The applicant, the Right to Life New Zealand (RTL), argued that the high rate of abortion in New Zealand indicated women were accessing “abortions on request” in contravention of the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion …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

Applicant alleged a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the Convention when she had been refused a therapeutic abortion considered legal under the Family Planning Act of Poland–when the pregnancy is thought to endanger the mother’s life, as was the case here. Applicant suffered from severe myopia and …Read more

Women petitioners brought a tutela action (appeal for legal protection) requesting that the Court declare unconstitutional particular provisions of the Penal Code (Articles 122 (criminalized abortion), 123 (criminalized abortion without consent), and 124 (mitigating circumstances)) that criminalized abortion, claiming that, first, the doctrine of res judicata did not apply to them with regards to previous decisions …Read more

In January 2000, Mrs. X went to the Royal Women’s Hospital (“the Hospital”). She was 32 weeks pregnant, and, after a multiple ultrasounds, it was confirmed that her baby had skeletal dysplasia (“dwarfism”). In February, a fetal reduction procedure was done and the baby was born by stillbirth. After termination, the fetus was found to …Read more