Evans v United Kingdom: Paradigms Of Parenting
| Published date | 01 November 2007 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.2007.00673_1.x |
| Date | 01 November 2007 |
| Author | Caroline Morris |
results of a sonogram of the developing foetus and so on. In short, what seems
likely is the continued attrition of a woman’s right to terminate an unwanted
pregnancyçbut not under the rubric of ‘protecting’the foetus, rather sheltering
under the neo-paternalist pretext of ‘protecting’the woman.
If, though, there is any lesson to be extracted from the history of abortion reg-
ulation since Roe, it is that much depends on the Court’s composition. Gonzales
suggestsan emerging,if fragile conservative 5^4 majorityon the Court. Pivotal in
the emergence of this conservative majority was the retirement in 2006 of Justice
O’Connorça former member of the Arizona state legislature appointed to the
Court by President Reagan, but who disappointed many social conservatives
with what they perceived as her slide ‘to the centre’. O’Connor had authored
Casey, and was the critical ¢fth vote i n Stenberg. O’Connor’s replacement was Jus -
tice Alitoçan Appeals Court judge who, in the 1980s, had worked as a Reagan
political appointee in the Department of Justice. If the retirement of Justice
O’Connor was pivotal, it is, however, Justice Kennedy who, today, is the pivot
around which the conservative majority spins. His is the critical ¢fth vote: Ken-
nedy voted with the majority in Casey, but vigorously dissented in Stenberg and
has now authored the majority opinion in Gonzales. It can, ofcourse, be danger-
ous to read too much into a single decision.Yet, at the same time, Gonzales seems
portentous. Coming, as it does,so early in the‘chiefship’ of Chief Justice Roberts,
and on as divisive an issueas abortion, it is di⁄cult not to look upon Gonzales and
wonder whether it is a harbinger of a conservative counter-revolution on the
Court. After all, Gonzales is the ¢rst decision to uphold a ban on a speci¢c abor-
tion procedure, and also represents the ¢rst time that the Court has approved an
abortion restriction that fails to provide an exception for the health of the preg-
nant woman. In this, the Roberts Court has, within a couple of years, not only
achievedthe conservative majority that eluded the Rehnquist Court but secured a
long-desired victory for social conservatives that breaks a decade long stalemate
on abortion.
Evans vUnited Kingdom:ParadigmsOfParenting
Caroline Morris
n
INTRODUCTION
The case of Natallie Evans (‘E’) and her quest to become a genetic mother has
periodically grippedpopular and legalattention over the last fouryears. It reached
its conclusionwith the judgment of the Grand Chamberof the European Court
n
Faculty of Law,Victoria University of Wellington. The author would like to thank Bill Atkin of
Victoria University of Wellington, Fran Wright of BradfordUniversity, and the a nonymous referee
for their helpful comments and advice.
Paradigmsof Parenting
992 r2007 The Authors.Journal Compilationr20 07The Modern Law Review Limited.
(2007) 70(6) 979^1007
To continue reading
Request your trial