JURIST - Paper Chase: Saturday, March 19, 2011

[JURIST] The Missouri House of Representatives [official website] on Thursday voted 119-38 in favor of legislation [HB 213, PDF] restricting late-term abortions [JURIST news archive] and imposing penalties on doctors who fail to comply with the new restrictions. The legislation, which is slated to become effective at the end of August, bans abortions of "viable" fetuses. The legislation would provide some exceptions, permitting abortions of viable fetuses only when the woman's life is endangered by a physical illness or disability, or when continued pregnancy poses the risk of substantial physical impairment to the pregnant woman. The legislation further requires a concurring opinion from a second physician before the abortion of a viable fetus can be performed. Doctors who abort viable fetuses in violation of the late-term abortion law could face up to seven years in prison and fines between $10,000 and $50,000. Missouri Right to Life [advocacy website] applauded the passage of the legislation [press release]:

While abortion at any stage of development is an offense against human dignity, certainly we can all agree that subjecting unborn children to the horrible pain of abortion is unacceptable in a civilized society. Unborn Children are the most vulnerable members of the human family and cannot speak for themselves. Our shared humanity compels us to protect the most vulnerable among us, and we are grateful to Rep. Jones and all the Democrats and Republicans who supported this legislation.

The bill will now proceed to the Missouri Senate [official website] for debate and voting.

Several state legislatures have acted recently to place restrictions abortions. Last week, the Oklahoma House of Representatives approved a similar bill [JURIST report] that would ban abortion after 20 weeks of gestation. Last month, the Kansas House of Representatives approved several new restrictions on abortion [JURIST report]. If the bills are approved by the Senate, Kansas residents will not be able to obtain an abortion after the 20-week mark, when some studies suggest a fetus can begin feeling pain. Other restrictions include a stringent parental consent and notification system for a minor's abortion and "clear and convincing" evidence for a judicial bypass of parental consent; the ability to bring a civil suit against abortion providers if they violate Kansas law; the right for criminal prosecution of abortion providers if they violate Kansas law; and for abortion providers to inform patients that the fetus is a "whole, separate, unique, living human being."

[JURIST] The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] on Friday held a debate and adopted the outcomes [press release] from its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the US. The review provided the US with 228 recommendations in 10 different areas regarding human rights policies and practices. Harold Hongju Koh [academic profile], a representative of the US Department of State (DOS), accepted recommendations made regarding immigration rights and stated that the government was in the process of reviewing its handling of refugee cases. The US was commended for continuing to protect the environment and also for its initiatives in the fight against human trafficking. Members of the committee condemned the US for rejecting many of the recommendations without reason. Among others, the US rejected calls to ban racial discrimination and religious profiling, close the Guantanamo Bay facilities, and abolish the death penalty. Koh argued that capital punishment was not precluded by international law. He urged delegations to look at the bigger picture of the progress the US has made regarding human rights and justice instead of looking at individual recommendations. Koh called the Universal Periodic Review an "ongoing process."

Koh echoed objections he made when the recommendations were first issued [JURIST report] in November. In August, the DOS released its own human rights review [JURIST report] and presented the report to the UNHRC. In the report, the DOS acknowledged the US government's historical struggle with some human rights issues including gender and racial equality, but noted the progress made in both areas. The Obama administration received criticism from both human rights groups and US politicians for initially not taking part [press release] in the UPR sessions, a process which each of the 192 UN member states must undergo every four years [JURIST comment]. This marks the US government's first UPR evaluation before the UNHRC. The US was elected to the UNHRC [JURIST report] in May 2009. The UNHRC was created [JURIST report] in 2006, at which time the Bush administration declined to seek a Council seat or participate in its proceedings due to a perceived anti-Israeli sentiment.

[JURIST] Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh [official website, in Arabic] declared a state of emergency [text, in Arabic] throughout the country on Friday. The state of emergency will last 30 days and gives security forces greater powers to maintain order and also includes a ban on citizens carrying arms in public. There is also a possibility that the state of emergency includes a curfew. The decree came after 25 protesters were killed [Reuters report] on Friday at an anti-government rally in the country's capital of Sana'a. Police were present at the rally to ensure control, but Saleh stated at a press conference [statement, in Arabic] that the police did not use live rounds on the crowd and that the shootings were the result of confrontations between protesters and local residents. Saleh stated that a "committee of neutral bodies" will investigate the incident and called those killed during the protest "martyrs of democracy."

Yemen is not the first country to declare a state of emergency in the midst of anti-government protests this week. On Sunday, Bahraini lawmakers called on King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa [official website] to declare a state of emergency [JURIST report] and invoke martial law after 5,000 protesters marched to demand an end to the monarchy. Bahrain officially declared martial law [JURIST report] on Tuesday. Yemeni authorities have previously been criticized for their counter-terror methods. In August, Amnesty International [advocacy website] criticized methods used by the government [JURIST report] as violations of human rights. These methods included arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances, among other actions taken by security forces.