Minors’ Consent to Medical Treatment (Abortion) Minor’s Right Vs Parental Consent

Abstract

My Body, My Rights" is a campaign from Amnesty International that seeks to draw a spotlight on the idea that everyone has the right over their body including women's and girls' autonomy over their own reproductive systems. Abortion is controversial and more complex when it involves a minor. Owing to the outdated and unclear abortion law in Malaysia as well as the underdeveloped legislation governing minor permission for medical treatment, the issue of minor assent to abortion is rather unusual.  Similarly, a minor in the United Kingdom could consent to medical treatment including abortion without parental consent, this article's goal is to ascertain minors in Malaysia could have the same right. This article, employing a doctrinal comparative method compares the law on consent to medical treatment including consent to abortion in Malaysia and the United Kingdom. This article will first give a brief idea about abortion followed by literature on the for and against parental involvement in minors’ decisions on abortion. Further is the analysis and comparative study with the English Law on consent to medical treatment including abortion to which this article reached a conclusion that abortion law including the legislative framework involving minors consent to medical treatment as a whole, should be reformed. This article is significant because it reflects a lacking of the legislative framework on minors’ consent to medical treatment, therefore paving the way for additional research on the area of minors’ consent to medical treatment involving the issue of abortion from a Malaysian perspective.

Keywords – consent, abortion, minor, parental responsibility, comparative study