Staff profile

Camilla is an Assistant Professor in Biolaw. She obtained her LLB, LLM (Research), and LLD from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Before starting at Durham Law School in 2019, Camilla was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights, and International Law at the University of Johannesburg and she was a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. Camilla also served as a Law Research Clerk at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa. 

Camilla’s research is focused on women’s rights during pregnancy and childbirth, with a particular focus on obstetric violence. She has published on themes related to abortion, involuntary sterilisations, foetal personhood, management of foetal remains, feticide, the maternal/foetal relationship during pregnancy, and violence and abuse during labour and childbirth in healthcare facilities. Her research intersects human rights law, medical law and ethics, criminal law, and tort law; and it engages broader themes related to reproductive justice, gender, equality, and violence (interpersonal and structural).

Research Groups

Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences

Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse

Gender and Law at Durham

• Criminal Law
• Gender and Violence
• Human Rights
• Medical Law

Authored book

• Pickles, C. (2017). Pregnancy Law in South Africa: Between Reproductive Autonomy and Foetal Interests. (New Edition). Juta

Chapter in book

• Pickles, C. (2021). Medical guidelines in South African courts: exploring their role in medical negligence matters. In J. Samanta, & A. Samanta (Eds.), Clinical Guidelines and the Law of Medical Negligence (80-111). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789908893.00011
• Pickles, C. (2020). When ‘Battery’ is not Enough: Exposing the Gaps in Unauthorised Vaginal Examinations During Labour as a Crime of Battery. In C. Pickles, & J. Herring (Eds.), Women’s Birthing Bodies and the Law: Unauthorised Intimate Examinations, Power and Vulnerability (127-142). Hart Publishing. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509937608.ch-009
• Pickles, C. (2019). Leaving women behind: The application of evidence-based guidelines, law, and obstetric violence by omission. In C. Pickles, & J. Herring (Eds.), Childbirth, vulnerability and law: exploring issues of violence and control (140-160). (New Edition). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429443718

Edited book

• Unauthorised Intimate Examinations, Power and Vulnerability. Hart Publishing
• Pickles, C., & Herring, J. (Eds.). (2019). Childbirth, Vulnerability and Law. Routledge

Journal Article

• Pickles, C. (2024). 'Everything is Obstetric Violence Now': Identifying the Violence in 'Obstetric Violence' to Strengthen Socio-legal Reform Efforts. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 44(3), 616-644. https://doi.org/10.1093/ojls/gqae016
• Pickles, C. (2023). “Obstetric Violence,” “Mistreatment,” and “Disrespect and Abuse”: Reflections on the Politics of Naming Violations During Facility-Based Childbirth. Hypatia, 38(3), 628-649. https://doi.org/10.1017/hyp.2023.73
• Pickles, C. (2018). Sounding the Alarm: Government of The Republic of Namibia v LM and Women's Rights during Childbirth in South Africa. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 21, 1-34. https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2018/v21i0a4303
• Pickles, C. (2017). Feticide: Continuing the Search for a Unified Approach to the Unborn. Tydskrif vir hedendaagse romeins-hollandse reg, 80(1), 44-61
• Pickles, C. (2017). Self-Induced Abortion in South Africa and Section 10 of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act 92 of 1996. South African Journal on Human Rights, 33(3), 496-506. https://doi.org/10.1080/02587203.2017.1394010
• du Toit-Prinsloo, L., Pickles, C., & Saayman, G. (2016). Managing the Remains of Foetuses and Abandoned Infants – A Call to Urgently Review South African Law and Medico-legal Practice. South African Medical Journal, 106(6), 578-581. https://doi.org/10.7196/samj.2016.v106i6.10598
• Pickles, C. (2016). Involuntary Contraceptive Sterilisation of Women in South Africa and the Criminal Law. South African journal of criminal justice, 29(2), 89-115
• du Toit-Prinsloo, L., Pickles, C., & Lombaard, H. (2016). Evaluating the Current Knowledge of Legislation and Practice of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the Management of Foetal Remains in South Africa. South African Medical Journal, 106(4), 403-406. https://doi.org/10.7196/samj.2016.v106i4.10214
• du Toit-Prinsloo, L., Pickles, C., Smith, Z., Jordaan, J., & Saayman, G. (2016). The Medico-legal Investigation of Abandoned Fetuses and Newborns – A Review of Cases Admitted to the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory, South Africa. International Journal of Legal Medicine, 130(2), 569-574
• Pickles, C. (2015). Eliminating Abusive ‘Care’: A Criminal Law Response to Obstetric Violence in South Africa. South African Crime Quarterly, 54, 5-16. https://doi.org/10.4314/sacq.v54i1.1
• Pickles, C. (2014). Approaches to Pregnancy under the Law: A Relational Response to the Current South African Position and Recent Academic Trends. De Jure Law Journal, 47(1), 20-41
• Pickles, C. (2013). Lived Experiences of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act 92 of 1996: Bridging the Gap for Women in Need. South African Journal on Human Rights, 29(3), 515-535. https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2013.11865088
• Pickles, C. (2013). Personhood: Proving the Significance of the Born-Alive Rule with Reference to Medical Knowledge of Foetal Viability. Stellenbosch law review, 24(1), 146-164
• Pickles, C. (2012). Termination-of-Pregnancy Rights and Foetal Interests in Continued Existence in South Africa: The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act 92 of 1996. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 15(5), 403-434. https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2012/v15i5a2530
• Pickles, C. (2011). The Introduction of a Statutory Crime to Address Third-Party Foetal Violence. Tydskrif vir hedendaagse romeins-hollandse reg, 74(4), 546-564