Well, this seems a little extreme

[james_davis_nicoll]

In a case which has been described by those representing the mother as “unprecedented,” a court order was obtained, in August 2012, for the Italian mother-to-be, in England on a work placement at the time, to be enforced to give birth “by way of cesarean section.”

Comments

Re: As ever, it is not actually that simple

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

legal proceedings to which you were not a party

That would not be the case. If an adult is held to lack capacity to manage his or her affairs then the Official Solicitor will instruct lawyers to represent him/her, usually at public expense. Children in care cases have a court-appointed litigation guardian who actively represents the child's interests in legal proceedings, and the parents (or anyone else with parental responsibility for a child in such circumstances) gets free, non-means-tested legal aid to fund their lawyers.

Re: As ever, it is not actually that simple

[nathan helfinstine (from livejournal.com)]

I think we disagree on what it means to be a party. I have no doubt that the court appointed a lawyer to reflect the mother's interests, and another lawyer to reflect the unborn child's interests. But the blog post you suggested lead to the official statement of the Essex County Council, which listed some key dates. The two that caught my eye were:

* Mother detained under Section 3 of the Mental Health Act on 13 June 2012
* Mother took part in the care proceedings ending on 1 February 2013

The combination of the two very strongly suggest that she had not taken part in any earlier proceedings. While it's all very nice to have a lawyer speaking on your behalf, if you're not permitted to speak for yourself, then you're the object of the hearing, not a party to it.