Menstrual Hygiene – the Bloody Road to Substantive Equality
Menstruation is a taboo subject for too many people, male and female alike, leading to misunderstanding, confusion, and prejudice. Menstruation has long been a signifier of Otherness; difference – but...
Abortion As A Human Right: Should the Law in Northern Ireland Be Reformed?
Why do women living in Northern Ireland have to travel to London to have an abortion? At an event hosted by Oxford University Amnesty International Society, in association with the...
Northern Ireland’s Human Rights Commission Granted Leave for Judicial Review to Challenge the Country’s Near-Blanket Ban on Abortion
Unlike the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland is not covered by the Abortion Act 1967. If you are a woman living there who wishes to terminate a pregnancy, the...
Revisiting Mass Sterilisation in India – Population Management or Menace?
According to the 2011 census, the population of India was recorded as 1.2 billion people. Such a situation calls for urgent measures to address family planning and to control of...
Burwell v Hobby Lobby – a narrow decision?
This week the Supreme Court of the United States delivered judgment in the eagerly anticipated case of Burwell v Hobby Lobby, involving a challenge to a provision of the Patient...
The Uneasy Decision in A and B v Secretary of State for Health
Most women from Northern Ireland seeking an abortion will travel to England. This is expensive: in addition to travel costs, the woman will have to use a private provider rather...
Surrogacy, Same-sex Couples and the Privatisation of Regulation in Israel
On 30 January 2014, the Israeli Government published a draft bill on surrogacy. This proposed amendment to Israel’s 1996 surrogacy law, which was based on a deeply entrenched heteronormative vision...
Abortion Law Reforms in Ireland
In A, B & C v. Ireland the European Court of Human Rights held that Ireland must end its 20-year delay in legislating for the limited constitutional right to abortion,...
Rendering Abortion Unconstitutional? Article 28 of Zambia’s New Draft Constitution
By Yaliwe Clarke Given international gains in legislation that protects women’s right to abortion, it is concerning that Zambia’s current draft constitution has put this matter back into national political...
The Agreed Conclusion of CSW57 – Reaffirmation of the Universality of Women’s Human Rights
Last month we ran a special themed post series on the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW57). We are delighted to conclude this series with...
