"Though the Abortion Act 1967 was passed in England and Wales over 50 years ago, the ethical and political questions that spur from abortion are far from settled. This book focuses on the neglected issue of the relationship between and women considering abortion and analyses the clinicians' informative role. It is contended that the focus on how the decision-making process unfolds during the medical encounter has been undermined and deserves more attention. This book supplies a novel interpretation of the informed consent framework based on the UK 2015 landmark decision of Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board1 which set out two key principles to govern informed consent in mainstream medicine: partnership and autonomy. It then explores how adherence to these principles can be achieved in the context of the broader medical alliance in the abortion context. It argues for a novel and additional focus on the valuable contribution that clinicians can bring to informed decision-making that safeguards women's authentic autonomy. The book uses England and Wales as a case study and proposes a shift in the abortion debate in, recommending changes that will enhance the emphasis on partnership and authentic autonomy in the medical encounter. It further highlights how these considerations have bearing beyond the domestic context and can be transversally applied also in other European countries"--
Traditionally the abortion debate has focused on the status of the foetus and the decisions available to pregnant women in isolation. In Informed Consent to Abortion, Caterina Milo argues that this politically polarised debate has neglected the crucial component of the decision-making process: Informed Consent (IC). Whereas in other aspects of healthcare law the IC process has received increasing attention and been the subject of much litigation, the abortion law has fallen behind. IC has been often neglected and the process of decision-making has been undermined.
Caterina Milo provides a legal and ethical framework of abortion law and professional guidelines by critically analysing the implications of the 2015 UK Supreme Court judgment in Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board on Informed Consent. She discusses the key potentials and challenges within three major areas of domestic law in England and Wales: the law on abortion, the tort law of negligence, and relevant professional guidelines on consent. Milo argues that these three areas have neglected the decision-making process and a change in approach is needed. Throughout the book, Milo sheds light on problems that emerge from the intersection between reproductive law and human rights law, discussing each in relation to the health-related ethical and policy debates in the domestic, European and US context. In turn, she addresses difficult questions posed by failure to comply with information disclosure and understanding standards in the abortion context. Milo critically assesses the role of clinicians in the abortion context, challenging the current legal and policy approach.
Informed Consent to Abortion contributes not only to philosophical and theoretical issues, but also to practical and applied ethics in medicine and law, both nationally and internationally. Caterina Milo grounds the theoretical debate in the realities of how the law presently responds, and how it should respond, to key ethical values informing contemporary medicine and health.
In Informed Consent to Abortion, Caterina Milo argues that this politically polarised debate has neglected the crucial component of the decision-making process: Informed Consent (IC). She provides a legal and ethical framework of abortion law and professional guidelines by critically analysing the implications of the 2015 UK Supreme Court judgment in Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board on informed consent. Milo grounds the theoretical debate in the realities of how the law presently responds, and how it should respond, to key ethical values informing contemporary medicine and health both nationally and internationally.
