The protection of the right to health and the procedures for voluntary termination of pregnancy between European Court of Human Rights and European Committee of Social Rights

SUMMARY: 1. Preliminary remarks. – 2. The relation between right to health and access to the voluntary termination of pregnancy: the Law No. 194 of 1978 and the observations of the Constitutional Court. - 3. (To follow): the jurisprudence of the ECtHR. – 4. The problems concerning the application of the Law No. 194 of 1978. - 4.1. The attempts to extend the context of application of Article 9. - 4.2. Problems of application related to the scientific development: the temporal limits of the access to the voluntary termination of pregnancy and the so-called fetus vitality. – 5. The role of Italian Regions and the effective exercise of women’s social rights. – 5.1. Voluntary termination of pregnancy and role of Regions. – 5.2. The 1981 decision of the Court of Milan. – 5.3. Regional monitoring functions and coordination mechanisms. – 5.4. Article 5 of Law no 194 of 1978 and the problem of the ‘partial’ conscientious objection. 5.5. The institutional level lacks and the effectiveness of the right to access to the procedures for voluntary termination of pregnancy. Further remarks. – 6. The Collective Complaints against Italy on the conscientious objection. - 6.1. The Collective Complaint No. 87/2012. - 6.2. The Decisions on the admissibility and the merits of the Collective Complaint No. 87/2012. - 6.3. The Collective Complaint No. 91/2013. - 7. Concluding remarks.Benedetta Liberali is the author of Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 4.1, 4.2, 6, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7. Lisa Lanzoni is the author of Sections 5, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5.