ABSTRACT

Although more than half a century has passed since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, gender discrimination in the name of beliefs, traditions and anachronistic interpretations of religions continues to severely restrict women in the enjoyment of many rights, including reproductive rights. Paradigmatic is the issue of denial of abortion which, in the debate on the balance between women’s rights and those of the unborn, remains unsolved in many states also in Europe. This paper focuses on the interruption of pregnancy in relation to the right of access to medical care and health services to verify whether or not international law includes a right to abortion and if the denial of abortion may constitute a gender discrimination. To this end the pa- per will analyse two recent views adopted by the UN Committee on Civil and Political Rights against Ireland concerning a case of therapeutic abortion’s denial.