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In this paper, I suggest that, if we are committed to accepting a threshold approach to personhood, according to which all beings above the threshold are persons with equal moral status, there are strong reasons to also recognise a second threshold that would be reached through human pregnancy, and that would confer on pregnant women a temporary superior moral status. This proposal is not based on the moral status of the fetus, but on the moral status of the pregnant woman. It is not only the fetus which is an organism sui generis: the pregnant woman, also, is a unique being. Following almost any view on the moral status of the fetus, the pregnant woman should be regarded, herself, as more than a singular individual. She is, herself, ‘more than one’. Pregnant women are also necessary for the continued survival of the human species, and there are important justice-based reasons to recognise the higher status. Furthermore, the recognition of a superior moral status for pregnant women does not imply that pregnancy should always be viewed as desirable, or imply any position on the permissibility of abortion. My proposal is not as radical as it might seem, as it does not require that pregnant women should always receive superior treatment, but only that they should to some extent. It could have a range of potential positive practical consequences. Finally, my approach does not threaten, but rather promotes, human equality.

This article explores the effects of naming and describing disability in law and medicine. Instead of focusing on substantive issues like medical treatment or legal rights, it will address questions which arise in relation to the use of language itself. When a label which is attached to a disability is associated with a negative meaning, this can have a profound effect on the individual concerned and can create stigma. Overly negative descriptions of disabilities can be misleading, not only for the individual, but also more broadly in society, if there are inaccurate perceptions about disability in the social context. This article will examine some relevant examples of terminology, where these issues arise. It will also suggest that the role of medicine and the law in naming and describing disability is particularly important because in these areas there is, perhaps more than anywhere else, a recognized source of authority for the choice of terminology. Labels and descriptions used in the medical and legal contexts can not only perpetuate existing stigmatization of disabled people, but can also contribute to creating stigma at its source, given that the words used in these contexts can constitute an exercise of power.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the contours of evolving jurisprudence on offensive expression and negative messages, and to suggest that it can best be understood by reference to the concept of stigma. At the European Court of Human Rights, there appears to have been an increasing willingness to recognise the harm of offensive expression through an interpretation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, but the reach of this case law remains uncertain. In particular, while some cases associate negative expression with negative stereotyping, not all of these cases do, and there are potential conflicts with freedom of speech. In the domestic context, these issues recently arose in a significant case from the Court of Appeal, R (Crowter) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care . In this case, the appellants argued that a legal provision sends a negative ‘message’, through the negative stereotyping of disabled people, but this ‘message’ is implicit, rather than explicitly articulated. While these developments raise important questions about the future evolution of case law, we propose that a focus on stigma can more clearly highlight the harms involved.

There are a number of medical procedures which end or prevent the lives of disabled human beings, and the use of these procedures has attracted, and continues to attract, much public and academic debate. This thesis does not seek to comprehensively address relevant ethical concerns in this debate, but rather seeks to examine, and critically evaluate, a different matter: the neutrality of the state in relation to the use of these medical procedures. Although much of the analysis can apply to other states, the thesis examines whether or to what extent the United Kingdom (as an example of a state) is neutral, with particular reference to English law. I develop the argument in this thesis in three parts. In the first, I evaluate the main philosophical foundations in my enquiry: the concept of state neutrality (Chapter 1), arguments about noncoercive genetic selection (Chapter 2), and definitions of disability (Chapter 3). In the second, I analyse the state's involvement in regulation and practice: based on an analysis of the law (Chapter 4), of the information provided to parents or prospective parents (Chapter 5), and of public funding (Chapter 6). In the third part of the thesis (Chapter 7), I draw conclusions based on the first two parts considered together, and discuss the difficulties in achieving state neutrality. While it is clear that the United Kingdom is not (and that no state can be) completely neutral, I explore whether it is more narrowly neutral by considering different interpretations of state neutrality based on the state's intention. I argue that these interpretations all inevitably rely on important normative commitments, and that the United Kingdom appears not to be, in at least a number of instances, truly neutral in even a more limited sense.

Dear Readers: One of my secretaries attended a homeowners' meeting to listen to a policewoman give information on ways to help prevent homes from being burglarized. The information was worth passing on in this column.

1. Rapid environmental change is placing increasing pressure on the survival of many species globally. Ecological refuges can mitigate the impacts of change by facilitating the survival or persistence of organisms in the face of disturbance events that would otherwise lead to their mortality, displacement or extinction. Refuges may have a critical influence on the successional trajectory and resilience of ecosystems, yet their function remains poorly understood. 2. We review and describe the role of refuges in faunal conservation in the context of fire, a globally important disturbance process. 3. Refuges have three main functions in relation to fire: they enhance immediate survival during a fire event, facilitate the persistence of individuals and populations after fire and assist in the re-establishment of populations in the longer term. Refuges may be of natural or anthropogenic origin, and in each case, their creation can arise from deterministic or stochastic processes. The specific attributes of refuges that determine their value are poorly known, but include within-patch attributes relating to vegetation composition and structure; patch-scale attributes associated with their size and shape; and the landscape context and spatial arrangement of the refuge in relation to fire patterns and land uses. 4. Synthesis and applications. Refuges are potentially of great importance in buffering the effects of wildfire on fauna. There is an urgent need for empirical data from a range of ecosystems to better understand what constitutes a refuge for different taxa, the spatial and temporal dynamics of species' use of refuges and the attributes that most influence their value to fauna. Complementary research is also required to evaluate threats to naturally occurring refuges and the potential for management actions to protect, create and enhance refuges. Knowledge of the spatial arrangement of refuges that enhance the persistence of fire-sensitive species will aid in making decisions concerning land and fire management in conservation reserves and large natural areas. Global change in the magnitude and extent of fire regimes means that refuges are likely to be increasingly important for the conservation of biodiversity in fire-prone environments.

Summary Rapid environmental change is placing increasing pressure on the survival of many species globally. Ecological refuges can mitigate the impacts of change by facilitating the survival or persistence of organisms in the face of disturbance events that would otherwise lead to their mortality, displacement or extinction. Refuges may have a critical influence on the successional trajectory and resilience of ecosystems, yet their function remains poorly understood. We review and describe the role of refuges in faunal conservation in the context of fire, a globally important disturbance process. Refuges have three main functions in relation to fire: they enhance immediate survival during a fire event, facilitate the persistence of individuals and populations after fire and assist in the re‐establishment of populations in the longer term. Refuges may be of natural or anthropogenic origin, and in each case, their creation can arise from deterministic or stochastic processes. The specific attributes of refuges that determine their value are poorly known, but include within‐patch attributes relating to vegetation composition and structure; patch‐scale attributes associated with their size and shape; and the landscape context and spatial arrangement of the refuge in relation to fire patterns and land uses. Synthesis and applications. Refuges are potentially of great importance in buffering the effects of wildfire on fauna. There is an urgent need for empirical data from a range of ecosystems to better understand what constitutes a refuge for different taxa, the spatial and temporal dynamics of species' use of refuges and the attributes that most influence their value to fauna. Complementary research is also required to evaluate threats to naturally occurring refuges and the potential for management actions to protect, create and enhance refuges. Knowledge of the spatial arrangement of refuges that enhance the persistence of fire‐sensitive species will aid in making decisions concerning land and fire management in conservation reserves and large natural areas. Global change in the magnitude and extent of fire regimes means that refuges are likely to be increasingly important for the conservation of biodiversity in fire‐prone environments. Refuges are potentially of great importance in buffering the effects of wildfire on fauna. There is an urgent need for empirical data from a range of ecosystems to better understand what constitutes a refuge for different taxa, the spatial and temporal dynamics of species' use of refuges and the attributes that most influence their value to fauna. Complementary research is also required to evaluate threats to naturally occurring refuges and the potential for management actions to protect, create and enhance refuges. Knowledge of the spatial arrangement of refuges that enhance the persistence of fire‐sensitive species will aid in making decisions concerning land and fire management in conservation reserves and large natural areas. Global change in the magnitude and extent of fire regimes means that refuges are likely to be increasingly important for the conservation of biodiversity in fire‐prone environments.

Species extinction has reached unprecedented rates globally, and can cause unexpected ecological cascades. Since Europeans arrived in Australia, many endemic mammals have declined or become extinct, but their ecological roles and outcomes of their reintroduction for ecosystems are poorly understood. Using surveys and novel long-term exclusion and disturbance experiments, we tested how digging mammal reintroduction affects predatory invertebrates. Mammal exclusion tended to decrease bare ground. Although scorpion burrow abundance increased with bare ground, mammals also had direct negative effects on scorpions. Increased disturbance alone decreased scorpion abundance, but other mechanisms, such as predation, also contributed to the mammal effect. Despite negative associations between scorpions and spiders, both groups increased and spider composition changed following mammal exclusion. Our long-term research showed that threatened digging mammals drive ecosystem cascades, affecting biota through a variety of pathways. Reintroductions of locally extinct digging mammals can restore ecosystems, but ecosystem cascades may lead to unexpected restructuring.