Antigone Betrayed? The European Court of Human Rights’ Decisions on Conscientious Objection to Abortion in the Cases of Grimmark v. Sweden and Steen v. Sweden

What is it about?

The article deals with the recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in the cases of two Swedish midwives who claimed a right to conscientious objection to abortion under Article 9 of the ECHR. By declaring the two applications manifestly ill-founded, the Court failed to take into consideration the possibility of accommodating conscientious objections within the framework of a pluralist democracy, as well as existence of a widespread European consensus on the issue. The article argues that less severe alternatives could have been adopted by the Swedish authorities to fulfil their positive obligation to ensure the effectiveness of the right to abortion.

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