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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Gender Injustice Of Abortion Laws, Joanna Erdman
The Gender Injustice Of Abortion Laws, Joanna Erdman
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
This commentary is a response to Katarzyna Sękowska-Kozłowska’s article on the treatment of criminal abortion laws as a form of sex discrimination under international human rights law through a study of the communications, Mellet v. Ireland and Whelan v. Ireland. The commentary offers a reading of these communications, and specifically the sex discrimination analysis premised on inequalities of treatment among women, as an engagement with the structural discrimination that characterises abortion laws, and asa radical vision for gender justice under international human rights law.
Access To Knowledge And The Global Abortion Policies Database, Joanna Erdman, Brooke Johnson
Access To Knowledge And The Global Abortion Policies Database, Joanna Erdman, Brooke Johnson
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Research shows that women, healthcare providers, and even policy makers worldwide have limited or inaccurate knowledge of the abortion law and policies in their country. These knowledge gaps sometimes stem from the vague and broad terms of the law, which breed uncertainty and even conflict when unaccompanied by accessible regulation or guidelines. Inconsistency across national law and policy further impedes safe and evidence‐based practice. This lack of transparency creates a crisis of accountability. Those seeking care cannot know their legal entitlements, service providers cannot practice with legal protection, and governments can escape legal responsibility for the adverse effects of their …
Constitutionalizing Abortion Rights In Canada, Joanna Erdman
Constitutionalizing Abortion Rights In Canada, Joanna Erdman
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
This article endeavours to understand the feminist activism from which constitutional abortion rights in Canada were born in the landmark Supreme Court case of R v Morgentaler 1988, and the influence of these rights on continued feminist activism for reproductive justice. Part I reviews abortion practice in the ‘back-alley’ prior to and immediately after the 1969 criminal reform with attention to the direct service activism of liberation feminists in their campaign to repeal the abortion law as a matter of constitutional justice. Part II turns to adjudication in the courts to study how judicial reasoning channelled these constitutional claims, exploring …
Judicial Reasoning About Pregnancy And Choice, Jocelyn Downie, Chris Kaposy
Judicial Reasoning About Pregnancy And Choice, Jocelyn Downie, Chris Kaposy
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Women in Canada are at risk of abortion becoming increasingly difficult to access. In its landmark 1988 ruling, R. v. Morgentaler, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the prohibition of abortion in section 251 of the Criminal Code on the grounds that it violated a section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees, among other things, "security of the person". However, all of the justices who ruled that section 25 unconstitutional nonetheless claimed that protecting the fetus is a valid objective of federal legislation, leaving open the possibility that a different and carefully crafted law against abortion …
In The Back Alleys Of Health Care: Abortion, Equality And Community In Canada, Joanna Erdman
In The Back Alleys Of Health Care: Abortion, Equality And Community In Canada, Joanna Erdman
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
The decriminalization of abortion in Canada ensured neither its availability nor accessibility as an integrated and publicly funded health service. While Canadian women are increasingly referred to or seek abortion services from single-purpose clinics, their exclusion from public health insurance often render these services inaccessible. This article considers denied funding for clinic abortion services from the perspective of the Canadian constitutional guarantee of sex equality. The article focuses on the 2004 Court of Queen's Bench's judgment in Jane Doe I v. Manitoba, which framed denied public funding for clinic abortion services as a violation of women's equality rights under the …