부산대학교 도서관

The purpose of this article is to critically examine, from both legal and ethical perspectives, s 38 Care of Children Act 2004 (COCA), which permits female children to consent to, or refuse, an abortion procedure. Section 38 is particularly interesting because Parliament intentionally turned its mind to allow children “of whatever age” to consent to abortion and decided that parental consent or knowledge was not required. The question necessarily becomes: what is unique about abortion procedures which allows for the prohibition of parental consent? In answering such questions, this article will demonstrate that most female adolescents only start to acquire sufficient autonomous capacity from the age of 14 years and as such the legislative wording of s 38 COCA is problematic and arguably careless. This article will discuss the issues arising from this section, from ethical and legal perspectives, starting with the morality of abortion, progressing to the legal framework, including the child’s capacity to consent, before discussing the ethics of child abortion.