Dhikta v. Government of Nepal: CRR Memo to Supreme Court of Nepal

I. Nepal’s existing abortion law, in permitting abortion during the first trimester without restriction as to reason or need for spousal consent, respects women’s basic human rights and should be reaffirmed.The current law on abortion as provided in the Eleventh Amendment of the Muluki Ain respects rights and principles recognized by the Nepalese Supreme Court and in international human rights treaties Nepal has ratified. It is also consistent with liberal legal stances on abortion of countries around the world. This body of domestic, international and comparative law strongly supports the assertion that respect for women’s basic human rights, including those to reproductive self-determination, reproductive health care, and gender and sex equality, requires that women be able to make autonomous decisions to terminate their unplanned or otherwise inappropriate pregnancies, as the Eleventh Amendment currently provides.