Examining the Role of the 'Responsive State' in the Collision of Disability Rights and Reproductive Autonomy

In the recent case of Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization 597 U.S. (2022), the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision in Roe v Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)a decision of over half a century which guaranteed women and pregnant people a constitutional right to abortion. On the other side of the pond, in England, the case of Crowter & Ors, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Health And Social Care [2021] EWHC 2536 recently highlighted that disabled people continue to feel stigmatized and discriminated against with regard to the differential legislation for abortions on the basis of foetal anomaly. Though seemingly disparate on the surface, the rights of persons with disabilities and the reproductive autonomy of pregnant people collide in the context of disability-selective abortions. This collision gives rise to a challenging dilemma: how do we safeguard the rights of disabled people, whilst still safeguarding reproductive autonomy for all those capable of getting pregnant?
My project argues that this conflict could be examined through an alternate lens; namely an analysis based on the vulnerability approach (Fineman, 2008; Mackenzie, Rogers, & Dodds, 2014) and relationality (Harding, 2017; Nedelsky, 2012). Using vulnerability as a conceptual tool, my research analyses the states obligation to ensure a richer guarantee of equality for both communities (disabled people and pregnant people), and whether the level to which the state fulfils this obligation could affect reproductive autonomy in the context of disability-selective abortions. Accordingly, my project assesses the extent to which government policy and practice concerning disabled people in the US and UK shapes reproductive autonomy. In order to do so, I will first adopt doctrinal research of the relevant domestic and international laws on abortion rights, disability rights and disability-selective abortions in the US and UK. Secondly, I will conduct fieldwork overseas in the US and locally in the UK to gather empirical data using semi-structured interviews with a sample of disability rights activists and abortion rights activists in both jurisdictions.