Lessons from Colombia: Abortion, Equality, and Constitutional Choices

The recent 2006 decision by the Colombian Constitutional Court offers an important model for legal comparison and change. In recognizing the connection between equality and access to abortion, the decision represents a landmark for women's reproductive rights and a lesson for North American courts. The following discussion will outline the court's broad conceptualization of discrimination in relation to abortion, assess the advantages of a positive rights paradigm, and examine the implementation of the decision. Using a comparative lens, it will then review the legal approaches to abortion that have developed in Canada and the United States and evaluate the practical differences that result from an equality-based approach.