Human Rights and Medical Abortion – University Faculty for Life

SSRN has posted a new article, Access to Information on Safe Abortion: A Harm Reduction and Human Rights Approach. According to the abstract the article explores claims that the international norms protecting the right of access to information includes the right to give and receive information for self-administration of misoprostol (RU-486).

The author, Joanna Erdman, is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Toronto; Co-Director of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Programme at the University of Toronto; and Director of the Health Equity and Law Clinic.

According to its website, the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Programme seeks to advance rights relating to reproductive and sexual health; promote greater understanding of how laws and policies inhibit the protection and promotion of reproductive and sexual health; and improve collaboration among specialists in law, medicine, health service administration and public health, on development and application of laws and policies to protect and promote reproductive and sexual health.

The Health Equity and Law Clinic (HEAL Clinic) was established in 2007 within the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Programme. A clinical legal education course, the HEAL Clinic provided upper year and graduate students with an opportunity to explore the role of the law in shaping equitable health policies and practices in domestic, regional and international contexts.

Teresa Collett

Teresa Stanton Collett is a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she teaches bioethics, property law, and constitutional law. A nationally prominent speaker and scholar, she is active in attempts to rebuild the Culture of Life and protect the institutions of marriage and family. She often represents groups of state legislators, the Catholic Medical Association, and the Christian Medical and Dental Association in appellate case related to medical-legal matters. She represented the governors of Minnesota and North Dakota before the U.S. Supreme Court as amici curiae regarding the effectiveness of those states’ parental involvement laws. She has served as special attorney general for Oklahoma and Kansas related to legislation designed to protect the well-being of minors and unborn children. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute and has testified before committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittees on the Constitution, as well as numerous legislative committees in the states.