Anna Broadmore

I started pursuing a doctorate at the University of Auckland during a time when I had taken a break from practising law to raise young children. The University of Auckland has outstanding supervisors and I was also awarded a scholarship.

My doctoral research was titled A Private Law Right to Reproductive Control.  It was triggered by the disarray of the case law involving interferences with reproductive choices. For example, we can now separate our reproductive choices from our body by preserving eggs and sperm and undergoing in-vitro fertilisation procedures – but what happens when things go wrong, and the reproductive choices that we have made are disrupted by the act of another? Things have been going wrong throughout the common law world, with IVF materials being muddled, and frozen sperm being destroyed. The lives of the progenitors are disrupted, but the common law has struggled to resolve the disputes in a coherent manner. My thesis approached the problem of common law protection for reproductive choices from a rights-based conception of tort law. It identified how judicial recognition of a core interest in reproductive control, similar to our core interests in bodily integrity, property and privacy, could resolve the difficulties in the area and help guide the development of the common law.

While it was the desire to pursue an academic career that led to me pursuing the PhD, in fact I found the process far more valuable than simply providing me with a necessary qualification. The depth of reading required, the stimulating discussions with my supervisors, the time available to pursue intellectual interests without the impediment of imminent deadlines, and the intellectual challenge of working through ideas in an iterative way over four years was extremely rewarding. I should also say, it was enormously challenging and I often had to remind myself that obtaining a PhD was never meant to be easy! Notwithstanding the challenges, I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a student in the PhD programme at the University of Auckland Law School.

The PhD  has given me the opportunity to pursue an academic career, and since completing it, I have been fortunate enough to have an academic position at the University of Auckland Law School.