L.C. v. Peru (UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women)

UN Committee Rules Treaty Obligations Guarantee Reproductive Health Services 

(Updated 3.18.21) The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) ruled that Peru’s failure to guarantee access to essential reproductive health services, including legal abortion, violates international treaty obligations, including the obligation to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of health care and to eliminate prejudices and gender stereotypes concerning the protection of the fetus over the health of the mother.  

CEDAW demands that Peru establish a mechanism for effective access to therapeutic abortion under conditions that protect women’s physical and mental health, change its laws to allow exceptions for abortion in the case of rape, implement training programs in relation to adolescent women seeking reproductive health services, and respond to specific health needs related to sexual violence. 

Starting at the age of 13, L.C. was repeatedly raped by a 34-year-old man who lived in her impoverished neighborhood near Lima, Peru. In 2007, when she learned she was pregnant, she attempted suicide and sustained a severe spinal injury. Doctors concluded that her spine needed to be realigned immediately, but refused to operate because she was pregnant—despite the fact that abortion is legal in Peru when the mother’s health and life are at risk. 

After eventually suffering a miscarriage because of the severity of her injuries, L.C. underwent the spinal procedure four months after the doctors had determined that it was needed. But she was told that the surgery would have little to no effect and she would remain paralyzed. 

On June 18, 2009, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Center for the Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights (PROMSEX) filed an individual communication on behalf of L.C. against Peru.

The petition charged that Peru’s failure to implement measures that guarantee a woman’s ability to obtain essential reproductive health services in a timely manner, particularly legal abortion, violates not only the Peruvian Constitution, but international treaty obligations. 

Among other remedies, the case asked that the Peruvian government acknowledge the human rights violation, provide L.C. with reparations, including physical and mental rehabilitation, and issue necessary measures so that no other woman is denied her right to comprehensive health care and therapeutic abortion. 

The CEDAW Committee established that Peru should amend its law to allow women to obtain an abortion in cases of rape and sexual assault; establish a mechanism to ensure the availability of those abortion services; and guarantee access to abortion services when a woman’s life and mental and physical health are in danger, circumstances under which abortion is currently legal in the country; and review its restrictive interpretation of therapeutic abortion in line with the Committee’s general recommendation No. 24. 

Plaintiff(s): L.C. 

Center Attorney(s): Lilian Sepúlveda and Alejandra Cardenas 

Partners: Center for the Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights (PROMSEX) and Estudio Rosas Ballinas 

Legal Documents 

• Decision: L.C. v. Peru 
• PROMSEX, el Centro de Derechos Reproductivos y Planned Parenthood Federation of America dan la bienvenida a las recomendaciones de la ONU al Estado Peruano sobre ampliación del acceso al aborto legal 
• PROMSEX, el Centro de Derechos Reproductivos y Planned Parenthood Federation of America dan la bienvenida a las recomendaciones de la ONU al Estado Peruano sobre ampliación del acceso al aborto legal 
• Las Naciones Unidas Recomiendan a Perú Expandir el Acceso al Aborto Legal 
• Las Naciones Unidas Recomiendan a Perú Expandir el Acceso al Aborto Legal 
• Perú Da Un Paso Crítico en la Implementación del Caso Histórico de Naciones Unidas Sobre la Denegación de Accesso al Aborto Legal 
• Perú Da Un Paso Crítico en la Implementación del Caso Histórico de Naciones Unidas Sobre la Denegación de Accesso al Aborto Legal 
• Argentina Decriminalizes Abortion in All Cases of Rape 
• Teen Rape Victim Files Case Against Peru in U.N. Committee 

Shadow Letters & Reports 

• Supplementary information on reproductive rights in Peru for the 46th session of the CESCR 

Other 

• Letter to Congress on CEDAW 

Press Releases 

• United Nations Calls on Perú to Expand Access to Legal Abortion 
• Perú Takes Critical Step To Implement Historic United Nations Ruling On Denial of Access to Legal Abortion 

Center in the News 

• “Petition Filed Against Peru with UN CEDAW Committee”