Role: Senior Lecturer, Flinders Law School, Flinders University
Adelaide, Australia

  Contact: mark.rankin@flinders.edu.au

  Research Interests:
Abortion Law | Moral Philosophy | Legal Ethics | Political Philosophy | Feminist Theory and Jurisprudence | Civil Justice

Mark Rankin is a Senior Lecturer at Flinders Law School, where he teaches the subjects Civil Litigation, Consumer Protection Law, Evidence and Professional Skills and Ethics. He has been admitted as a barrister and solicitor of both the High Court of Australia, and the Supreme Court of South Australia. His major areas of research are: 1. Abortion law, and related issues of both reproductive freedom and moral philosophy; and 2. Civil justice, with an emphasis upon procedure and litigation. His most recent publications in these areas are: David Bamford and Mark J Rankin, Principles of Civil Litigation (Thomson Reuters, 2^nd ed, 2014); Andrew Alston and Mark J Rankin (eds), Professional Skills and Ethics (LexisNexis, 3^rd ed, 2014); Mark Rankin, ‘Can One Be Two? A Synopsis of the Twinning and Personhood Debate’ (2013) 31(2) Monash Bioethics Review 37; and Mark J Rankin, ‘The Offence of Child Destruction: Issues for Medical Abortion’ (2013) 35 Sydney Law Review 1.

While at Emory, Mark researched US abortion law. This research will have a dual focus: 1. Tracking the gradual dilution of the significance of the landmark US Supreme Court decision in Roe v Wade (1973) 410 US 113; and 2. Highlighting the disadvantages inherent with framing any rights to abortion within the constitutional rights to privacy and liberty, rather than pursuing a women’s reproductive freedom approach, and maintaining that a right to abortion exists as a necessary component of the right to equality. He also looks forward to productive discussions with colleagues at the Feminism and Legal Theory Project, and to sharing his knowledge of Australian abortion law.