Abstract
Should there be international recognition of the right to abortion? This question arises all the more since this right is being regressed throughout the world. The right to health is a fundamental right and the right to abortion impacts on women's health. The right to abortion thus becomes a fundamental right.
The right to abortion is now in decline in several countries
On June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned a federal ruling, Roe vs. Wade, which had guaranteed the right to abortion throughout the country since 1973, thus leaving each state free to determine its own policy on access to voluntary termination of pregnancy (VTP)
Today, two and a half years after the decision, abortion is illegal in 14 American states, including the very conservative Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. In these countries, even rape or incestuous intercourse is not an exception. In seven other states, abortion is legal but with severe restrictions. In Georgia and South Carolina, for example, it is refused beyond a period of six weeks, while a woman generally learns that she is pregnant between five and six weeks after the start of her pregnancy. In the other 29 states, it has remained legal. Some have chosen
to go further and have adopted laws to protect it on their territory.
This regression is pushing various States to include this right in their constitutions.
A right enshrined in the Constitutions
Ubi societas, Ibi Jus, Where there is society, there also exists law!
This famous Latin aphorism has found its place in various fields, including that of abortion!
Indeed, various countries have devoted the right to abortion to women!
• A right enshrined in the Constitution of California (USA)
Like California, a Democrat, which added the right to contraception and abortion to its own constitution in November 2022.
• A right enshrined in the Constitution of France
Since March 8, 2024, France has included IVG (voluntary termination of pregnancy) in its constitution. The law enshrined in the 1958 Constitution the guaranteed freedom of women to
resort to voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG).
It was a question of reaffirming the fundamental nature of this freedom in France.
Should there be international recognition of the right to abortion?
Will the recognition of the right to abortion as a fundamental human right by the United Nations General Assembly be essential to ensure the equality and well-being of women worldwide?
No, because each State will remain free to recognize this or not in its country. But it will still be a big plus for this right throughout the world.
Biography
Sabine Ndzengue Amoa is a legal consultant, trainer, speaker, editor. Environmental law, public law and health law constitute her different areas of expertise.
A specialist in issues relating to the protection of biodiversity and climate change, she is the founding president of ASPROBIO AGM, an association for the protection of biodiversity and the adoption of significant actions which raise awareness of environmental protection and climate change.
