A Reproductive Justice Analysis of Abortion Law and Provision in Great Britain
Elizabeth Chloe Romanis1, Sabrina Germain1, Durham University Durham 1Durham University, Durham, County Durham, United Kingdom
Abstract
Changes were made to the abortion law in Great Britain in 2020 – that became permanent in 2022 – allowing the provision of abortion medications by telemedicine. A growing body of legal scholarship praises these changes for having increased the accessibility of abortion for a range of people, including those living in rural areas, poorer people, people with disabilities and younger people. However, an intersectional analysis using a reproductive justice approach is missing from this body of work, even though people with intersecting identities are facing unique challenges, including racialised medical perceptions, health illiteracy, stigma, language, and cultural and socio-economic factors, when accessing many healthcare services. The experiences of people marginalised within healthcare are important stories untold in legal scholarship.
A reproductive justice approach, developed in the US by Black feminist activists, that centres the voices of racialised people and LGBTQ+ people, is a generative framework for looking at telemedicine abortion in Great Britain. Reproductive justice brings the social realities of inequality outside and within the reproductive context to the forefront of understanding and considers the impact inequality (of different forms) has on individual control over reproductive decision-making. We use this approach with an intersectional framework to centre the experiences of marginalised people and understand the extent to which the law, social structures and access to telemedicine frame these experiences.
Biography
Dr Romanis does research in healthcare law and bioethics with a particular interest in reproduction and the body (abortion, gestation, pregnancy and birth).
Dr Germain’s research interests are in the field of healthcare law and policy. She focuses on questions of distributive justice (resource allocation and access to healthcare services) and the role of medical professionals in the healthcare law making process.