U.S. Supreme Court ruling contradicts international legal trends

The court upheld the procedure ban despite medical expert testimony opposing it.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in the cases Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood and Gonzales v. Carhart, upholding a law that bans a particular abortion procedure used in the second trimester of pregnancy. Congress passed the law in 2003 in the face of opposition from medical experts, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who felt that the law prevented physicians from fulfilling their obligation to put the needs of their patients first.

Reacting to the decision, Elizabeth Maguire, President and CEO of Ipas, said:  “Restrictions on access to abortion violate women’s rights to health, privacy, equality and freedom of conscience.”

The court was split 5-4 in its decision.  In her dissenting opinion, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (the only woman currently sitting on the Supreme Court) called the majority opinion “a setback for women’s health” that “tolerates, indeed applauds, federal intervention to ban nationwide a procedure found necessary and proper in certain cases by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists."

Every year around the world, approximately 70,000 women die from unsafe abortion and 5 million more are hospitalized, enduring long-term disability and compromised fertility. The international community has recognized the toll restrictive abortion laws take on women’s lives in a series of international agreements: the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action, the 1999 Five-Year Review of the ICPD Programme of Action, and the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing) Platform for Action. 

“Access to abortion on request in the first trimester remains the law of the land,” Maguire said.  “But this decision shows that Americans must continue to fight to protect their reproductive rights.”

The court’s decision comes at a time when there is increasing global recognition of the need to liberalize restrictive abortion laws in order to protect women’s health. Since 1995, 16 nations have liberalized laws restricting abortion, including Colombia, Ethiopia and Nepal. By contrast, the United States is one of only six nations to add restrictions.  Under the 1985 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), governments are required to refrain from banning medical procedures only needed by women.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258