Home > Sturm College of Law > Denver Journal of International Law & Policy > Vol. 54 (2025) > No. 1 (2025)
Abstract
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (“Inter-American Court” or “Court”) has become known for its prolific jurisprudence on women’s rights issues. Even though it took the Court decades to rule its first comprehensive women’s rights judgment in 2009 in González et al. (“Cotton Field”) v. Mexico, it has developed a remarkable body of case law emphasizing five areas in particular: (i) violence, due diligence, and access to justice; (ii) gender-based and intersectional discrimination; (iii) sexual and reproductive rights; (iv) economic, social, and cultural rights; and (v) women who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (“LGBTIQ+”). The Court’s judgments increasingly evidence the diverse experiences of both women and girls, and a gender-sensitive lens to the American Convention on Human Rights and other inter-American treaties. The Court has consistently called for urgent state action to prevent and respond to multiple gender-based human rights violations.
In developing detailed jurisprudence on women’s rights, the Inter-American Court has introduced the concept of reproductive autonomy in several of its judgments concerning sexual and reproductive rights. The judgments address issues such as access to assisted reproductive technologies and informed consent over medical procedures. This article will discuss the introduction of this concept in the Inter-American Court’s jurisprudence, its development to date, and its potential contours for the future. The following pages will analyze the promise of reproductive autonomy considering the line of judgments and advisory opinions issued by the Inter-American Court touching on gender issues and the notion of personal autonomy. This kind of scholarly reflection is critical in a region with stark contrasts in the protection of women’s sexual and reproductive rights, particularly regarding abortion.
The author is currently working on a series of articles that closely examine the work of regional human rights courts and opportunities to develop legal standards capable of responding to contemporary problems faced by women. In this line of research, the author has been analyzing the increasing pivot towards women’s autonomy in international case law, highlighting the possibility for women to express their identities, carve their life plans, and exercise their self-determination and identities, free from government interferences. This article discusses these issues from a regional perspective, occasionally drawing comparisons with other regional courts, the universal system of human rights, and the work of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Recommended Citation
Rosa Celorio, Inter-American Reproductive Autonomy, 54 DENV. J. INT'I L. & POL'y 59 (2025)