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U.S. Racial Disparities Come Under Scrutiny in Geneva

February 19, 2008 -- Unequal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare is putting the lives and health of women of color at risk. This is the message that Center President Nancy Northup and Litigation Fellow Katrina Anderson are taking to Geneva this week, where they will brief a U.N. committee that is reviewing U.S. compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination on February 21 and 22. Northup and Anderson will also address these issues with officials from the World Health Organization and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Click here to read the Center’s shadow letter on racial disparities in the U.S. > >
Click here to read the comprehensive shadow report by 250 U.S. groups > >
Click here to read Unequal Health Outcomes in the U.S. > >



Kansas Supreme Court Protects Patients' Private Medical Records—For Now

February 6, 2008 -- On February 5th, the Kansas Supreme Court granted Dr. George Tiller’s request to temporarily block a grand jury from accessing the private medical records of approximately 2000 women who obtained abortions at his clinic. The Center also filed a petition with the same court on behalf of Dr. Tiller’s patients, appealing last week's order from a lower court that Dr. Tiller surrender the records.

The subpoenas were requested by a grand jury, which was convened after a group of anti-choice activists collected enough signatures to call for an investigation of the doctor; Kansas is one of a handful of states that allow citizens to bypass prosecutors in this way. The records will not be turned over to the grand jury until the Kansas Supreme Court issues a further order.

Click here to read the Center’s brief > >
Learn the story from one of Tiller’s patients > >



Abortion Patients Forced to Turn Over Their Private Records to Grand Jury

January 31, 2008 -- On January 30, a state judge in Kansas ordered often-targeted abortion provider Dr. George Tiller to turn over the medical records of approximately 2000 of his patients to a grand jury. The Center, which is representing patients of Dr. Tiller, filed a brief in the case arguing that the records contain quintessentially private information of patients—information that no patient would want handed over to the grand jury or put at risk of being leaked to the public. Attorney Bonnie Scott Jones did an interview with the ABC affiliate in Wichita, Kansas.

Click here to watch the video > >



Filipino Women and Men Sue Manila Mayor For Ban on Contraception

January 30, 2008 -- Twenty Manila women and men filed a case today in a Philippine high court against the mayor of Manila, arguing that the city’s eight-year ban on contraception has severely and irreparably damaged their lives and health and those of many others in Manila City. Relying heavily on the study Imposing Misery conducted by the U.S.-based Center for Reproductive Rights and Philippines-based Likhaan and ReproCen, the plaintiffs paint a grim portrait of women’s lives in Manila under Mayoral Executive Order 003 (EO 003), which effectively bans among other things condoms, birth control pills, and sterilization in public health centers.

Click here to learn more about the case > >



The Center Continues to Highlight Racial Disparities in Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare in the U.S.

January 25, 2008 -- On January 23, the Center and 25 other groups released Unequal Health Outcomes in the U.S., a report on health disparities and environmental justice in the U.S. By building new partnerships in the human rights community, the Center aims to broaden the coalition of groups calling for recognition of reproductive rights as human rights. The report grew out of a recent shadow report submitted to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in December by a coalition of 250 U.S. organizations, including the Center. In a separate shadow letter, the Center focused specifically on reproductive and sexual rights. The committee will review the U.S. in February 2008.

Click here to read Unequal Health Outcomes in the U.S. > >
Click here to read the comprehensive shadow report > >
Click here to read the Center’s shadow letter > >



Statement from Nancy Northup, President Center for Reproductive Rights, on 35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

January 22, 2008 marks the 35th anniversary of the historic Roe v. Wade decision. Since the Supreme Court decided Roe in 1973, two trends have emerged in the legal landscape around reproductive rights—in the United States, a troubling retreat from longstanding commitments to the principles of the decision; and around the world, a growing recognition of women’s fundamental human right to reproductive health and self-determination.

Click here to read Nancy Northup's statement on the Roe anniversary > >



Supreme Court Rejects Efforts to Revive Michigan’s Dangerous Abortion Ban

January 7, 2008 -- A 2005 federal court decision that struck down a dangerous and extreme abortion ban in Michigan will stand. The Supreme Court rejected efforts by the state and an anti-abortion group to revive the law, which was introduced in 2004 and would have prohibited even first-trimester abortions. In Northland Family Planning Clinic, Inc. v. Cox, the Center challenged the ban together with the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Click here to read more > >



The Center Releases Reproductive Rights Federal Policy Agenda

December 21, 2007 -- With the release of its Reproductive Rights Federal Policy Agenda, the Center for Reproductive Rights calls on policy-makers to demonstrate their commitment to women’s health and self-determination, and to acknowledge this nation’s obligation to respect reproductive rights as human rights. The Agenda, which the Center will distribute widely to officeholders, political candidates, the media, think tanks, and other organizations, calls on policymakers to take bold action in support of women’s reproductive health and autonomy, and sets forth concrete and attainable goals.



Center Documents Racial Disparities in Access to Reproductive Health Care in the U.S.

December 19, 2007 - - Women of color in the U.S. fare worse than white women in every aspect of reproductive health, according to a letter the Center submitted today to the UN committee that will review U.S. compliance with the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) early next year. In particular, the letter highlights racial disparities in maternal mortality, sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy.

Click here to read the letter > >



What If Roe Fell? 2007

The second edition of the Center’s "What if Roe Fell?" report shines a light on the latest anti-choice strategies designed to criminalize abortion at every stage of a woman's pregnancy. The report documents the way in which direct assaults on Roe at the state level have surged since the first edition of the report, in 2004, analyzes the reasons for this trend and arms citizens to fight back.


2007 World's Abortion Laws Map


Some 60% of the world's population currently lives in countries in which abortion is allowed for a wide range of reasons or without any restrictions, according to the 2007 World's Abortion Laws Map. Created by the Center for Reproductive Rights to keep track of legal reforms worldwide, the easy-to-read map is available in four languages and illustrates the grounds upon which each country permits abortion.









Buy our full-color map online > >
For a modified printable version of the map, click here > > (we recommend you select a larger paper format)
For a printable version of the World's Abortion Laws 2007 fact sheet, click here > >
For a printable version of the World's Abortion Laws 2007 fact sheet in Spanish, click here > >