Two Neighbours, Two Courts, One Paradox: Abortion Rights in the US and Mexico

By Devashri Awasthi, McGill International Review
Mar 21, 2026

In September 2021, Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) unanimously declared criminalizing abortion unconstitutional. Nine months later, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade (1973). The irony is striking: Mexico—commonly perceived as conservative and overwhelmingly Catholic—expanded abortion rights through judicial reasoning, while the United States—long self-identified as a global rights leader—restricted access through partisan judicial maneuvering. Two neighbouring Christian-majority countries with politically compromised judiciaries reached diametrically opposite conclusions on closely related constitutional questions.

Taken together, these rulings pose a clear comparative puzzle. Holding religion constant and treating politics as the product rather than the cause, analyzing this outcome centres on judicial interpretation, social movements, and international human rights uptake as the channels through which the bounds of the decision were set.

Continued: https://www.mironline.ca/two-neighbours-two-courts-one-paradox-abortion-rights-in-the-us-and-mexico/

Nepal – Legal safeguards fail to curb abortion prosecution

Nepal’s abortion law protects rights on paper but women still risk arrest and harassment.

Aarya Chand
February 8, 2026

Kalpana, a resident of Siraha, was not seeking to abort the child. She was seeking medical care.

After a miscarriage, Kalpana, who the Post is identifying with a pseudonym to protect her privacy, was taken to a hospital for treatment. Instead, she was accused of having undergone an illegal abortion. The police were informed and she was arrested.

Months later, Siraha District Court cleared her of the charges by declaring that what had actually occurred was a natural miscarriage.

Continued: https://kathmandupost.com/national/2026/02/08/legal-safeguards-fail-to-curb-abortion-prosecution

Nigeria has progressive policies but restrictive laws — Dupe Awosemusi

January 28, 2026
Adeola Ojo

Dupe Awosemusi is a woman with many hats and a record that speaks of commitment, passion and hardwork. She is an astute legal practitioner, a social worker and the pioneer Coordinator of Oyo State Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Response Team, domiciled in ministry of Justice, Oyo State; former Chairperson of FIDA, Oyo State and currently a Director in Ministry of Justice. In this interview with ADEOLA OJO, she speaks on restrictive abortion laws, high morbidity and mortality rate in Nigeria and reproductive health laws among others.

There seems to be an alarming rate of morbidity and mortality from unsafe termination of pregnancies in Nigeria, is this right?
Yes — there is indeed an alarmingly high rate of both morbidity (health complications) and mortality (death) from unsafe termination of pregnancies in Nigeria, and it remains a serious public health concern.

Continued: https://tribuneonlineng.com/nigeria-has-progressive-policies-but-restrictive-laws-dupe-awosemusi/amp/

28.01.2026

Reproductive Justice initiative Foundation

Women petition court to decriminalize abortion in cases of rape, incest, mental illness

The petition cites Uganda’s obligations under the Maputo Protocol and CEDAW, which call on states to respect women’s reproductive rights and ensure access to safe abortion in cases of sexual violence.

Thursday, August 21, 2025
By Juliet Kigongo

Two Muslim women leaders and a faith-based women’s rights organization have petitioned the Constitutional Court seeking a declaration that Uganda’s restrictive abortion laws are unconstitutional for filing to provide exceptions permitted under Islamic jurisprudence and international human rights standards.

Continued: https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/muslim-women-petition-court-to-decriminalize-abortion--5162344

21.08.2025

News

CEDAW

Hajira Gimbo

Islamic Women's Initiative for Justice Law and Peace

Maputo Protocol

Masjid Salama

Uganda Constitutional Court

Poland: Abortion rights, the big absentee in the presidential election

13/06/2025
Piotr Lapinski

Karol Nawrocki, the candidate backed by the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, was elected President of Poland on Sunday 1 June 2025. While this country is one of the most restrictive European states with abortion legislation, this election raises concerns about the future of abortion rights.

13 June 2025. Every year, thousands of women leave Poland to terminate their pregnancies. Those who can’t, do so in unsafe conditions, risking their lives. This well-documented reality was formally recognized in an investigative report published in 2024 by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The report concluded that the criminalization of abortion assistance, combined with rare legal exceptions and frequent inaccessibility of services, prevents the majority of Polish women from exercising the right to safe and legal abortion.

Continued: https://www.fidh.org/en/region/europe-central-asia/poland/poland-abortion-rights-the-big-absentee-in-the-presidential-election

Taiwan’s Enduring Controversies Over Abortion Laws

June 4, 2025
Hope Ngo

We have quantum theory to thank for “Schröedinger’s Cat,” a thought experiment involving a box that is said to contain a radioactive atom, a container of poison, and a cat. In the experiment, the animal is said to be both alive and dead until the box is opened and the cat’s condition is confirmed one way or the other. Unfortunately, the same can be said of the status of abortion rights in Taiwan—that it is both legal and illegal because the procedure is governed by two very different, contradicting laws. So, while Taiwan has staked out a progressive position regarding LGBTQ+ rights, it cannot say the same about its more complex social attitudes and laws regarding women’s reproductive rights.

In Taiwan, abortion is allowed under specific conditions specified by the Genetic Health Act (優生保健法), but it is penalized under Articles 288, 290, and 292 of the Criminal Code (中華民國刑法). Under the Genetic Health Act, legal abortions can be performed under six conditions. These conditions include:

Continued: https://globaltaiwan.org/2025/06/taiwans-enduring-controversies-over-abortion-laws/

‘Care Is a Political Act’: MADRE’s Global Legacy of Organizing and Solidarity

4/18/2025
by Eleanor J. Bader

In the mid-1980s, neither Amnesty International nor Human Rights Watch considered rape a weapon of war or categorized sexual assault as a violation of human rights. But MADRE did. The 40-year-old, U.S.-based global feminist organization helped correct these egregious omissions.

The group’s legacy includes numerous other accomplishments: MADRE was one of the first domestic organizations to partner with international LGBTQ+ and Indigenous activists and was one of the first to analyze foreign policy through a feminist lens.

Continued; https://msmagazine.com/2025/04/18/care-is-a-political-act-madres-global-legacy-of-organizing-and-solidarity/

Why US abortion restrictions matter beyond borders

To restore its position as a global advocate for human rights, the United States must ensure access to abortion within its borders.

March 10, 2025
By Jena Merritt

Abortion is healthcare—essential, life-saving, and fundamental to bodily autonomy. However, access to this critical service has become increasingly uncertain in the United States. Since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, state-level restrictions have created a patchwork of access, leaving many without options. While the immediate effects are felt domestically, the ramifications extend far beyond US borders, influencing global attitudes toward reproductive rights.

Continued: https://www.openglobalrights.org/why-US-abortion-restrictions-matter-beyond-borders/

Human rights organizations call for better protection of sexual and reproductive rights in Latin America

Helena Tian | UCL Faculty of Laws, GB/CN
January 20, 2025

Human rights organizations in Latin America issued a joint statement on Friday, expressing deep concerns about the systematic non-compliance of several Latin American states with international human rights, sexual rights, and reproductive rights (SRHR) obligations.

SRHR are fundamental rights protected by a range of international and regional human rights treaties and in national laws and constitutions … [but] legal and socioeconomic barriers in Latin America are currently undermining the ability to exercise self-determination and bodily autonomy free from discrimination, coercion and violence. The statement underlined several overriding issues, including the criminalization of abortion, the lack of access to comprehensive and quality sexual and reproductive health services, institutional gynaecological and obstetric violence, the misuse of conscientious objection, and a lack of implementation of decisions from international and regional human rights institutions.

Continued: https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/01/human-rights-organizations-call-for-better-sexual-and-reproductive-rights-in-latin-america/

New UN Report: Polish Abortion Law Violates Human Rights

A comprehensive investigation reveals the devastating consequences of Poland's restrictive abortion law on women's health and bodily autonomy, requiring urgent legal reform.

Center for Reproductive Rights
Sept 13, 2024

In a groundbreaking report, the United Nations (UN) has denounced Poland’s restrictive abortion law for causing severe human rights violations. The three-year investigation, conducted by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), reveals the devastating toll the law is taking on women’s health and rights in Poland and calls for swift and sweeping legal reform to legalize and fully decriminalize abortion.

The CEDAW inquiry into Poland’s abortion law was initiated after submissions by the Center for Reproductive Rights, in collaboration with Polish civil society organizations including the Foundation for Women and Family Planning (FEDERA) and the Karat Coalition. This effort sought to draw urgent international attention to Poland’s severe abortion restrictions and their harmful impact on women’s health, rights, and bodily autonomy over decades.

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/un-cedaw-report-poland-abortion/

13.09.2024