Family Court has no power to stop abortions

Justice Peter Murphy in the Family Court has ruled that there is no common law right of a father to enable him to force the mother to carry a child to term (see Talbot & Norman [2012] FamCA 96 (24 February 2012)).

A man going under the pseudonym of Mr Talbot had sought an urgent injunction to prevent his former partner from having an abortion. He also asked the court to order the woman to forward all ultrasounds, blood tests and medical information to him, and to notify him when she was in labour so he could attend the hospital when the baby was born.

Mr Talbot, representing himself, told the court he would be seeking full custody of the child from birth. His former partner, aged 16, gave evidence that she did not intend to terminate the pregnancy.

Justice Murphy said that because the woman had said she did not intend to have an abortion, there was no factual basis for an injunction to be granted; even so, he noted that such an order would be outside of the jurisdiction and power of the court to grant. He affirmed the legal principle that, while the Family Court has the power to grant an injunction for the personal protection of a child, a foetus has no legal personality and no rights until it is born and has a separate existence from its mother.

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