Sterilisation

Sterilisation

Sterilisation occurs in society for a number of purposes. These purposes range from menstrual management and personal care, to the prevention of pregnancy. Sterilisation is better described as a surgical technique leaving a male or female unable to reproduce.

The overwhelming majority of sterilizations and certainly all the cases heard in Australian courts and tribunals; involve female children with intellectual disabilities. Should the sterilization of intellectually disabled girls and young women in Australia be legalized?

In 1992, The High Court of Australia held a case known as Marion's case. As a result the High Court decided that, a court or tribunal’s authority is required before any child can lawfully be sterilised. The High Court said authorisation might only be given if sterilisation is determined to be in the child's best interests.

The Marion’s case touches on a number of conditions that give rise to the need for law reform.

Law reform is the process that reviews our existing laws and recommends or introduces changes to them, usually with the aim of improving justice or efficiency.

A main factor that influences the need for law reform is the increasing advances in technology. These advances require continual review of existing laws. It is practically impossible to predict technological advances and their implications. As the process of sterilisation is becoming less of an invasive surgical procedure many parents are considering the operation.

There are also human rights problems at the centre of the debate about sterilisation. “People with an intellectual disability have the same human rights as people without intellectual disabilities. They have the right to sexual pleasure and expression, the right for their bodies to develop in a natural way, and the right to be parents” a quote from the intellectual Disability Rights Service.

In reference to the Marion’s case The High Court found that fundamental questions of human...