The essay concludes with a comparison of abortion law in Ireland, Iran, Thailand, Japan, and India, in order to illustrate the different ways in which these tensions have been resolved. The issue of abortion also exposes tensions regarding the role of religion and the status of women in society ( relation of religion to state and society).

In Canada, procedural issues were prominent, so the court was able to protect access to abortion without addressing the substantive questions of whether the fetus is a person and whether abortion is a right protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.Ĥ.

By contrast, Germany’s Basic Law guarantees the right to ‘life’ and ‘human dignity’ of the unborn, thus it compels the government to criminalise abortion, even though it need not attach any penalty.

Colombia’s Constitution requires access to abortion based upon the woman’s rights to ‘life,’ ‘health’ and ‘human dignity’ ( right to life right to health dignity and autonomy of individuals). Other countries have framed the issue in terms of ‘equality’ (South Africa equality), ‘security of the person’ (Canada right to security), or the right ‘to make decisions concerning reproduction’ and ‘to security in and control over their body’ (South Africa). In the US, the debate over the constitutional basis for abortion has shifted from the language of ‘privacy’ to ‘liberty’ ( right to privacy right to liberty). The US and South Africa both reject the personhood of the fetus in order to safeguard the woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy, whereas Germany and Colombia allow abortion in spite of their conclusion that life begins at or near conception and the fetus is the bearer of constitutional rights. But this essay will set aside such medical and technological questions, and assume the traditional legal definition of abortion.ģ. For example, multifetal pregnancy reduction, which is typically used in assisted reproduction in order to decrease the number of fetuses in a multiple pregnancy without terminating the entire pregnancy, arguably constitutes a category of abortion (Rao at 202). In addition, some assisted reproductive technologies that involve the destruction of embryonic life could also fall within the ambit of abortion. Moreover, new methods of early medical abortion by means of a pill rather than surgery further blur the line between contraception and abortion, and test the boundaries of existing abortion laws ( Sheldon 192–193). If pregnancy is determined to commence at fertilization rather than implantation, many forms of contraception would be included within the meaning of abortion. Yet this definition masks a fundamental ambiguity regarding what qualifies as an abortion. 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.

United States Minor Outlying Islands ġ.

Constitutional overviews (by jurisdiction).

Constitutional instruments and materials.

Justice ethical principle abortion