KL v. Peru (United Nations Human Rights Committee)

12.10.08 - In 2001, KL, a 17-year-old Peruvian woman carrying a fetus with a fatal anomaly (anencephaly), was denied a therapeutic abortion by Peruvian health officials, despite Peruvian law allowing pregnancy termination for health reasons. The young woman was compelled to carry the fetus to term and was then forced to feed the baby until her inevitable death several days later. The following year, the Center for Reproductive Rights, the Counseling Center for the Defense of Women's Rights (DEMUS), and the Committee for the Defense of Women's Rights (CLADEM) filed a complaint seeking a remedy under the ICCPR UN Human Rights Committee for state officials' failure to protect the petitioner's right to be free from inhumane and degrading treatments, among others.

In 2005, the Committee issued its ruling on KL v. Peru, establishing that denying access to legal abortion violates women's most basic human rights. This decision marked the first time that an international human rights body held a government accountable for failing to ensure access to legal abortion services.