Barbara Hewson considers the human rights surrounding home births
In Ternovszky v Hungary (App No 67545/09), a little-known decision of the European Court of Human Rights in December 2010, the court found a violation of a woman’s right to respect for her private life under Art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention), because of legal uncertainty about whether she could have her baby at home.
This case has led to claims that women have a right under the Convention to a home birth or, rather, to a home birth service. A careful reading of the judgment suggests that may be putting a spin on what the Court said. The European Court has ruled a number of times that “the Convention does not guarantee as such a right to free medical care or to specific medical services” (RR v Poland (App No 27617/04)). It has also said that the state’s margin of appreciation is greater when assessing priorities in the allocation of scarce public resources (Sentges v Netherlands
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