Izvorni znanstveni članak
The Right to Abortion – Legal and Non-Legal Dilemmas
Dubravka Hrabar
orcid.org/0000-0002-4103-8190
; Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
Abortion as an undesirable phenomenon has both medical and public health aspects, but the legal regulation of this procedure also requires observance of numerous international documents and their provisions pertaining to the right to life. The content of the right to life refers not only to the prohibition of the death penalty and euthanasia, but also comes closest to answering the question whether an unborn child has the right to be born. Not a single international document excludes the right of an unborn child to be born, while states are dealing with the issue of rights of various other parties in relation to abortion, and not the particular right of an unborn child to be born. The autonomy of the will of a woman requesting an abortion can only be compared to the right of the mother to live. Any other counterposition is arbitrary and reflects a domination of the strong over the weak. In this paper, the author compares the legal regulation – international, European and national (in particular the obsolete Act on the Medical Measures for the Realisation of the Right to Family Planning) – to the constitutional regulation of the right to life and its protection. The author also presents the illuminating decision of the German Constitutional Court concerning the right to life, and the interesting recent judgment of the Luxemburg Court of Justice which featured the first express statement that life begins at conception. Furthermore, a reference is made to the Croatian regulations concerning conscientious objection and the need to respect this freedom. The paper includes a brief historical outline of the legal regulation of abortion with the most important medical and legal arguments supporting the right of an unborn child to life.
Ključne riječi
abortion; right to life; conscientious objection; European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
Hrčak ID:
153012
URI
Datum izdavanja:
30.12.2015.
Posjeta: 11.841 *