The U.S. Is Breaking International Human Rights Law With Roe Decision

The U.S. Is Breaking International Human Rights Law With Roe Decision
7/13/2022 by Jorie Dugan and Emma Stoskopf-Ehrlich



Pro-abortion supporters march through London to the U.S. Embassy in solidarity with women in Texas, calling for protection of reproductive rights on Oct. 2, 2021 in London. (Wiktor Szymanowicz / Future Publishing via Getty Images)

“Abortion is banned with no exceptions for rape or incest.” As we obsessively refresh our Twitter tabs and news outlets tracking the latest fallout and analysis following the decimation of Roe, this phrase, used to describe numerous trigger bans that have been signed into law in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, is one we cannot shake. Make no mistake: Forced pregnancy—when someone becomes pregnant without having sought or desired it—and denied, delayed or inaccessible abortions are wrong under any circumstance. But when it comes to rape or incest (although, in reality, nearly all instances of incest are also instances of rape), *********forcing a victim to carry a pregnancy to term by denying them access to abortion is nothing short of cruel and inhumane treatment. ********This perspective is backed by numerous legal decisions. International reproductive rights organizations, including the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), Women’s Link Worldwide and the International Planned Parenthood Federation, have successfully argued before regional and international bodies that denying abortion, including in instances of rape, can constitute human rights violations on numerous grounds.

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With the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health, the U.S. is violating the right to equality and nondiscrimination, the right to privacy, the right to life, the right to health and the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The U.S. is also in violation of its treaty obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which has obligated the USA to provide safe, legal and effective access to abortion in circumstances where forcing a pregnancy would cause the pregnant person “substantial pain or suffering, most notably where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.”

Now more than ever, it is critical to take full advantage of international legal remedies to hold the United States accountable for eroding abortion rights and, therefore, women’s human rights. For decades, grassroots women’s rights movements from Mexico to Ireland to Argentina to Keyna have used international human rights rulings and recommendations to pressure governments to liberalize abortion laws. The same must happen in the U.S., a country that hypocritically prides itself on upholding and advancing human rights.

Roe‘s overturning isn’t the finale of a legal and cultural attack on bodily autonomy. It merely represents the continuation of an organized, well-funded effort to maintain and support the patriarchal status quo. Ongoing and amplified pressure from the international human rights community will be crucial in the fight for abortion access.


https://msmagazine.com/2022/07/13/us-abortion-breaking-international-human-rights-law-united-nations-cedaw/