Lunch Seminar: ‘Abortion Law Reform in Scotland: Lessons for Reproductive Rights Advocates’
With University of Melbourne’s Hallmark Research Initiative on Reproductive Justice, the Monash Health Law Group, the Deakin Centre for Law as Protection, and the La Trobe University, School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
When: Thursday 27 November 2025, 1:00pm (AEDT)
Where: Room 608, Level 6 Melbourne Law School or via Zoom
You are invited to join us for our last HLEN Monthly Lunchtime seminar for 2025 which will be co-hosted with the University of Melbourne’s Hallmark Research Initiative on Reproductive Justice, the Monash Health Law Group, the Deakin Centre for Law as Protection, and the La Trobe University, School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
In this seminar, Lynsey Mitchell and Sally Sheldon will discuss recent progress towards the reform of Scots abortion law. Both Mitchell and Sheldon were members of the Expert Group convened to advise the Scottish Government on abortion law reform. They will discuss the need for reform, the pathway that reform might take, likely impediments, and the possibility of England and Wales following suit. They will also offer some wider reflections on how academics can work with others to support liberalising reform efforts, including internationally.
Light Refreshments will be available from 12:45pm.
About the presenters
Dr Lynsey Mitchell is a Senior lecturer in Law at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow where she teaches jurisprudence and Gender, Sexuality and Law. She has published work on the narrativisation of women’s rights in law and on how reproductive rights are often premised on the problematic reproduction of one-dimensional understandings of womanhood. She is currently completing a funded pilot project: ‘Scotland’s Abortion Laws: Understanding the Past to Inform Future Reform’ and co-authored a report into decriminalization of abortion in Scotland.
Sally Sheldon is Professor of Law at the University of Bristol, where she teaches healthcare law. She has written a number of books including, most recently, The Abortion Act 1967: a Biography of a UK Law (co-authored with Gayle Davis, Jane O’Neill and Clare Parker). She is currently a member of the team conducting research into Contragestive Time: Pregnant Uncertainties in Fertility Control.
Please feel free to pass on details of the seminar to anyone you think might be interested. We always welcome new members to the Network.
If you would like to join, please register here or contact law-researchsupport@lists.unimelb.edu.au
We look forward to welcoming you at the seminar!
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