Beyond Formal Commitments: Rethinking CEDAW’s Strategy on Abortion Law Reform in the Philippines
(2025) JAMM07 20251Faculty of Law
Department of Law
- Abstract
- This thesis focuses on the issue of abortion rights in the Philippines, a country which maintains one of the strictest abortion laws globally, prohibiting abortion under all circumstances without exceptions. Despite severe penalties, unsafe abortions remain widespread, resulting in approximately 1.1 million induced abortions and around 1,000 maternal deaths annually.
The interaction between the Philippines and the CEDAW Committee exemplifies broader tensions between international human rights law and national legal compliance. Studying this case provides critical insights into the phenomenon of formal compliance, where states superficially adhere to international norms without essential implementation and highlights inherent limitations... (More) - This thesis focuses on the issue of abortion rights in the Philippines, a country which maintains one of the strictest abortion laws globally, prohibiting abortion under all circumstances without exceptions. Despite severe penalties, unsafe abortions remain widespread, resulting in approximately 1.1 million induced abortions and around 1,000 maternal deaths annually.
The interaction between the Philippines and the CEDAW Committee exemplifies broader tensions between international human rights law and national legal compliance. Studying this case provides critical insights into the phenomenon of formal compliance, where states superficially adhere to international norms without essential implementation and highlights inherent limitations within international treaty bodies such as the CEDAW Committee. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for improving the effectiveness of international human rights advocacy, especially in countries with similarly restrictive sexual and reproductive health contexts.
The thesis adopts a legal doctrinal analysis methodology, systematically reviewing international human rights instruments including the ICCPR, ICESCR, and CEDAW, along with domestic Philippine laws like the 1987 Constitution, Revised Penal Code, and Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012(RH Law). Additionally, the thesis critically examines the CEDAW Committee’s concluding observations from three periodic reviews of the Philippines, alongside an important official inquiry in 2015. The analysis employs Oona Hathaway's theory of expressive commitment to interpret the Philippine government's actions and contrasts the Philippine case with Northern Ireland’s successful abortion reform, highlighting domestic institutional constraints.
The thesis concludes that stagnation in abortion law reform in the Philippines is due to dual structural limitations: domestically, the Philippines suffers from inadequate legal enforcement mechanisms, and internationally, the CEDAW Committee is constrained by substantive and structural limitations inherent in the treaty body system. Although immediate legal reform is unlikely due to these deep-rooted barriers, the thesis suggests practical strategies, recommending that the CEDAW Committee should shift towards deeper engagement with local civil society organizations and focus strategically on strengthening post-abortion care, utilizing existing legal frameworks such as the RH Law as entry points for incremental progress. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9214565
- author
- Deng, Xing LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- JAMM07 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9214565
- date added to LUP
- 2025-11-17 16:28:00
- date last changed
- 2025-11-17 16:54:35
@misc{9214565,
abstract = {{This thesis focuses on the issue of abortion rights in the Philippines, a country which maintains one of the strictest abortion laws globally, prohibiting abortion under all circumstances without exceptions. Despite severe penalties, unsafe abortions remain widespread, resulting in approximately 1.1 million induced abortions and around 1,000 maternal deaths annually.
The interaction between the Philippines and the CEDAW Committee exemplifies broader tensions between international human rights law and national legal compliance. Studying this case provides critical insights into the phenomenon of formal compliance, where states superficially adhere to international norms without essential implementation and highlights inherent limitations within international treaty bodies such as the CEDAW Committee. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for improving the effectiveness of international human rights advocacy, especially in countries with similarly restrictive sexual and reproductive health contexts.
The thesis adopts a legal doctrinal analysis methodology, systematically reviewing international human rights instruments including the ICCPR, ICESCR, and CEDAW, along with domestic Philippine laws like the 1987 Constitution, Revised Penal Code, and Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012(RH Law). Additionally, the thesis critically examines the CEDAW Committee’s concluding observations from three periodic reviews of the Philippines, alongside an important official inquiry in 2015. The analysis employs Oona Hathaway's theory of expressive commitment to interpret the Philippine government's actions and contrasts the Philippine case with Northern Ireland’s successful abortion reform, highlighting domestic institutional constraints.
The thesis concludes that stagnation in abortion law reform in the Philippines is due to dual structural limitations: domestically, the Philippines suffers from inadequate legal enforcement mechanisms, and internationally, the CEDAW Committee is constrained by substantive and structural limitations inherent in the treaty body system. Although immediate legal reform is unlikely due to these deep-rooted barriers, the thesis suggests practical strategies, recommending that the CEDAW Committee should shift towards deeper engagement with local civil society organizations and focus strategically on strengthening post-abortion care, utilizing existing legal frameworks such as the RH Law as entry points for incremental progress.}},
author = {{Deng, Xing}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Beyond Formal Commitments: Rethinking CEDAW’s Strategy on Abortion Law Reform in the Philippines}},
year = {{2025}},
}