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Abortion

Abortion

The Legal History of Abortion in Hindu Law

This section provides an overview of Abortion in Hindu Law

Abortion

In relation to the abortion and constitutional law, Radhika Rao[1] made the following observation: Abortion is commonly defined as the intentional termination of pregnancy with reasonable knowledge that such termination will cause the death of the embryo (embryos and embryonic stem cells) or fetus. Yet this definition masks a fundamental ambiguity regarding what qualifies as an abortion. If pregnancy is determined to commence at fertilization rather than implantation, many forms of contraception would be included within the meaning of abortion. Moreover, new methods of early medical abortion by means of a pill rather than surgery further blur the line..

Abortion

There is no specifi c provision of binding international law that deals directly with the question of abortion. Art. 4(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights of 22 November 1969 ( 1144 U.N.T.S. 123 ) provides for the right to life which applies ‘in general, from the moment of conception’. Other international instruments providing for the right to life do not explicitly extend the right to the moment of conception. See, e.g., the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948 ( General Assembly Res. 217 (III) ): art. 3; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 December 1966 ( 999 U.N.T.S. 171 ): art. 6. Art. 10(2) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights of 16 December 1966 ( 993 U.N.T.S. 3) provides that special protection should be accorded to mothers ‘during a reasonable period before and after childbirth’ but no specifi c provision is made for protection of the foetus. Similarly, art. 12(2) requires States parties to take steps to reduce the rate of still births but not of abortions It is generally accepted that the control of abortion is a matter for domestic law and the practice of States on this issue varies considerably. See also reproductive rights .[2]

Description of Abortion

Abortion in China

See in this legal encyclopedia.

Abortion and privacy rights

See in this legal encyclopedia.

Abortion and right to equality

See in this legal encyclopedia.

Resources

Notes and References

  1. Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law, Radhika Rao, “Abortion” (2018, Germany, United Kingdom)
  2. The entry “abortion” in the Parry and Grant Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law (currently, the Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law, 2009), Oxford University Press

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