Home > Sturm College of Law > Denver Journal of International Law & Policy > Vol. 54 (2025) > No. 1 (2025)
Abstract
This article explores various understandings of anti-discrimination law and how different national apex courts, regional human rights tribunals and international human rights treaty bodies have applied them in abortion decisions, particularly in the Global South. Recent jurisprudential and theoretical innovations in anti-discrimination law range from direct discriminatory treatment against individuals to indirect discrimination resulting in disparate impact on groups to systemic forms of discrimination that address underlying gender hierarchies and prejudicial constructions of women, girls and pregnant persons. Whatever form of anti-discrimination law is applied, they all have a role in improving access to essential abortion services and improving the equal exercise of autonomy. The article proceeds by exploring how courts have reasoned or could have reasoned regarding (i) direct discrimination; (ii) various grounds of discrimination and their underlying wrongs; (iii) indirect discrimination; and (iv) systemic discrimination. The goal of the article is to generate further debate on how anti-discrimination law has been and can be used to strengthen reproductive equality.
Recommended Citation
Rebecca J. Cook, Advancing Equality Through Anti-Discrimination Law, 54 DENV. J. INT'I L. & POL'y 93 (2025)