This month saw the culmination of the Center's decade-long fight for justice for a woman in El Salvador, an urgent response to a harmful bill in India, an update on our pilot program in Uganda, and a step toward gender equality in the U.S. and beyond.

For more Center news from both in and out of the courts, keep reading or visit our website for more updates.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Center argues historic case at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

On March 10 and 11, the Center and our local partner argued before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Manuela v. El Salvador—the first case to reach the top court on the criminalization of obstetric emergencies due to a country's total abortion ban. The case centers around a Salvadoran woman, Manuela, who in 2008 was unjustly sentenced to 30 years in prison for aggravated homicide after losing her pregnancy. She died imprisoned two years later, after receiving inadequate medical treatment for her cancer.

Africa

A year after Uganda pilot program's launch, the Center presents findings to the UN

In 2020, the Center and our partners at CARE International in Uganda launched a new pilot program to protect the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women and girls in one of Uganda's largest refugee settlements. A year later, we presented initial results from the pilot to the UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls in hopes of using key learnings to inform future projects and advance SRHR in other refugee communities.

Asia

India passes abortion "reform" that fails to undo barriers to access

The Parliament of India just passed an amendment to the country's 50-year abortion law that increases overall gestational limits, marking progress. However, the amendment also entrenches a harmful policy requiring women to obtain authorization by medical practitioners for all abortion care—even in the earliest stages of pregnancy—despite broad calls for its removal. The Center for Reproductive Rights is working closely with national partners to highlight the amendment's negative implications for SRHR in India, providing human rights legal expertise, contributing technical support and resources, engaging in urgent advocacy actions, and amplifying the work of national partners.

United States

For International Women's Day, two executive orders to advance gender equality

President Biden issued two Executive Orders around gender equality on International Women’s Day. The first order established a Gender Policy Council within the Executive Office of the President, while the second centers around gender equity for students, including the right to an education free from discrimination on the basis of sex. This pair of orders make clear the Biden administration’s aim to drive gender equality as a human right in the U.S. and around the world.

"Manuela was the victim of a State that does not protect the life and health of women, that discriminates and criminalizes them for having natural complications of pregnancy and does not provide guarantees to protect the confidentiality between medical staff and patients."

—Catalina Martínez Coral
Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean on Manuela v. El Salvador