A demonstration of human rights law rationale and its concerns : A critical examination of legal reasoning in the Crowter case concerning UK disability-specific abortion law

Sammanfattning

Debates concerning abortion and disability rights expose unresolved tensions within the European Convention on Human Rights between reproductive autonomy, disability equality, dignity, and social recognition. This thesis examines how these tensions were addressed in Crowter v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, a case challenging the legality of disability-specific abortion under section 1(1)(d) of the Abortion Act 1967. Using qualitative and interpretative textual analysis within a socio-legal and critical legal theory framework, the study analyses judicial reasoning alongside domestic abortion law, the ECHR, the CRPD, CEDAW, and the broader social context surrounding prenatal screening and reproductive governance. The findings show that the courts managed the conflict through proportionality, balancing, and deference to medical and parliamentary authority, revealing how human rights adjudication remains deeply shaped by political and moral assumptions despite claims of legal neutrality. The thesis argues that disability-specific abortion law carries problematic implications, particularly within a framework historically grounded in abortion criminalisation. It further suggests that the European human rights framework remains insufficiently equipped to reconcile tensions between the CRPD and CEDAW or to address future challenges posed by reproductive technologies capable of reshaping reproductive practices and the social constitution of populations.