Decriminalisation of Abortion
Update 14th October 2008
The Victorian Abortion
Law Reform Bill was passed in the Legislative Council late on Friday
night
10th October with 23 in support and 17 against.
The Bill has now passed both houses of parliament unamended.
Our joining together
with
so many organisations and individuals in advocacy for abortion to be
removed from the Victorian Crimes Act and for abortion to be regulated
as
a health service has been a monumental achievement.
Many thanks to
everyone
who contributed. Thanks in particular to members of the Victorian
Parliament who approached this significant decision with deep reflection
which led to incredibly informed debate. Many thanks to those women and
men
who assisted by providing leadership within and across the political
parties.
Click here for link to legislation...
Update 9th October 2008
Your help is urgently needed to sit in the Public Gallery in support of the Bill and pro-choice MPs.
The presence of supporters of the Abortion Law Reform Bill in the Upper House of Parliament is absolutely critical and this need will continue over the next few days. Wearing a purple ribbon and/or purple clothing will identify you as pro-choice. Session dates and sitting times.
We understand that the vote will happen this week. Today's debate will likely go on until the wee hours of the morning, continuing on all day Friday and potentially into the weekend.
Please make time to be present and show your support at this crucial time.
If you are not able to attend Parliament, you can tune into an audio of the debate streamed live from Parliament.
Update 19th September 2008
Decriminalisation of Abortion.
The Abortion Law Reform Bill 2008 was passed by the Victorian Legislative Assembly on Friday September 12th at around 1.00am in the morning.
It then had its first reading in the Legislative Council straight after that. The Bill will now have its second reading in the Upper House at their next sitting on possibly October 7th. The process will basically be the same for the Upper House as it was in the Lower House. The Bill will be read a second time, then each MP will be able to “speak” to the Bill, and then vote to send it to the “committee” stage. Unlike the Lower House there is no speaking time limit for Upper House MP’s so the debate may go on forever! Once the deputy speaker takes over the Bill it will be debated and voted on clause by clause. When all of that is done the final vote on the bill will be taken. We have no idea when!
Articles of interest from the New England Jounal of Medicine:
The Partial Death of Abortion Rights
The Intimidation of American Physicians - Banning Partical-birth Abortion
Update May 2008
ABORTION LAW REFORM UPDATE AND URGENT CALL TO ACTION FOR ALL MEMBERS AND FRIENDS!
This is the latest information about the Victorian Law Reform Commission process in relation to their Abortion Law Reform Report.
The Law Reform Commission report titled Law of Abortion: Final Report has been tabled in parliament on the 29th May 2008.
Hard copies can be obtained from the Papers Office at Parliament House, or it can be downloaded from the VLRC website at http://www.lawreform.vic.gov.au/ , or download summary & recommendations...
Please read Victorian Law Reform commission - Law of Abortion - WHV position , it is WHGNE's position and we support and recommend Model C.
The human face of 'the models" Isabelle and Susan's stories
Women’s Health Goulburn North East continue with our advocacy at the local MP and state key MP’s level. EO Susie Reid is meeting with key political leaders in our region to put forward the case for abortion to be taken out of the Criminal Code and advocating strongly for women’s choice and for women’s reproductive right to be respected in law.
There is much we can do as individuals to lobby our local and state MPs.
MPs are being bombarded daily by anti-choice advocates who wish to keep abortion (or TOP – termination of pregnancy as it is now often referred to) in the Criminal Code and keep women in the 19th century. As we know, this minority (less than 20% of the population) are the most vocal, have the greatest amount of time and money on their hands to harass doctors, women and MPs and are the most likely to be noticed by the media because their sensationalist strategies.
It is very important that the often silent majority speak out and make our views heard by the politicians who represent us.
Please note: when you contact your MP include your name, address and the electorate you vote in.
Updated info can be obtained from Pro-Choice Victoria http://www.prochoicevic.org.au/ or Women’s Health Victoria http://www.whv.org.au.
Model C is the preferred Victorian Women's Disability Network option because:
• In this model, abortion is governed by the same body of legal rules that regulate other medical procedures.
• Final decision making authority rests with the pregnant woman
• It reflects current clinical practice insofar as there is currently no gestational limit or different criteria in law for the different stages of pregnancy
Model C does not involve ‘abortion on demand because a woman must engage the services of a medical practitioner who is under a general legal obligation to provide services which are clinically appropriate’. If you want further information about each of the options, please go to |
Actions to take:
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You can take action by writing to your local MP and encouraging others to do likewise. Women's Health West (WHW) have written a sample letter for your use. go to our Be informed Section to help you write your letter. Include your name, address and the electorate you vote in.
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Make an appointment to visit your local MP to express your support for women's right to control over reproductive decision-making. Here are some key points (from WHW) that you might like to use to inform your meeting and some general and tips on lobbying a politician from Senator Lyn Allison.
Be informed; Be honest; Don’t waste time; Be sure to know what you want; Say thanks!
- Contact the media,it is a great way of ensuring that your support for abortion law reform is communicated. Where and How
Real live signatures mean a lot to politicians – it’s their voters speaking with the pen.
Print out the petition and get twenty people to sign it; email it to your friends; leave it in shops. Make sure you go back to collect it! Drop it back to WHGNE or mail to PO Box 853 Wangaratta 3676
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To sign an online petition visit - http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/decrim_abortion
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Support a state and national women's health policy.
Neither Victoria nor Australia has a women's health policy. Support for such a policy that includes women's access to a range of sexual and reproductive health services, including abortion, is also an important step for women
- Pass on information to friends and people in your circle of influence. Never under estimate the ripple effect!
The issue
Removal of abortion from the Crimes Act in Victoria
Victorian Women’s Health Services are calling on MP's across political parties to listen to and understand what support for decriminalisation of abortion means. Read their statement
Abortion in Victoria: The Melbourne Declaration
Endorsed by the participants of the "Abortion in Victoria. Where are we now? Where do we want to go?" Conference, 30th November 2007
Women's Health West's article in their newsletter outlines the history and reason for these changes.
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Why we need to do this now?
- In Western Australia, law reform came about within the context of a political crisis- a doctor was been charged and service provision across the state ceased. The issue was debated in Parliament for four months and very little else got done in the meantime.
- In the ACT, abortion law reform occurred without a political crisis. It was far less disruptive and divisive.
- The ACT experience has been a successful one and a model that could be adapted to the Victorian context to ensure justice in the law and in the provision of health services regarding abortion.
- Victoria cannot afford to wait for this to become a political crisis. We need to deal with it now.
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Papers to read
The Difficulties Young Rural Women Face in Trying to Obtain Surgical Terminations of Pregnancy
Elly Taylor
In this thesis, I suggest that the aspiration to decrease the number of abortions is proving harmful for many, particularly young women in rural Victoria. The harm extends not only to the “politics and personal experience of abortion”, but also in the way it impedes a policy commitment to the well-planned delivery of abortion services.
Download PDF copy...
More information from Women's Health Victoria...
More information from Association for the Legal Right to Abortion (ALRA)...
ALRA Briefing paper No 5: Current Abortion Process in Victoria
ALRA Briefing paper No 6: Registration, Accreditation & Regulation of Abortion Services
ALRA Briefing paper No 7: Abortion Legislation by Jurisdiction
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Past Updates and Background Information
Update 1st April 2008
In December 2007, the Victorian Law Reform Commission began a review of our State abortion laws.
The report of the VLRC is expected to go to the Attorney General on 28 March 2008 and made public within 14 Parliamentary sitting days, presenting a series of options to government to remove abortion offences from the Crimes Act 1958. This is likely to lead to a bill to remove abortion from the Crimes Act. As a result, we have a unique opportunity from April 2008 to ensure that the laws governing abortion reflect public opinion - only 9 percent of Australians are opposed to abortion - and to reverse women's long-time exclusion from control over reproductive decision-making. This is one of the greatest opportunities we have had to bring about equitable outcomes for individual women, as well as for women as a group.
We need your help to do this!
While women's health services in Victoria are held in high regard by government and related bodies for their well-researched and considered opinion on a range of topics relating to women's health and wellbeing, the more people that publicly voice their support for these changes, the better informed are those responsible for decision-making. Those opposed to abortion are a tiny minority in Victoria, but they are loud and well-resourced, which can often make their opinion seem like the majority opinion to the politicians who will make decisions about women's health on behalf of us all.
Update 22nd February 2008
Links to papers
Links to get others engaged in the campaign
Update 23rd October 2007
Victorian Law Reform inquiry into Abortion Law - Notes to aid submission
Resources available from Women's Health Victoria - Quality Resources on Abortion
Update, 2nd October 2007
The Terms of Reference to the Victorian Law Reform Commission Inquiry into Abortion Law have gone up on the VLRC website this afternoon. This link to the Information Paper which contains the Terms of Reference and Background Information. Submissions are due in by 9th November and the Commission will report to the Government no later than the 28th of November 2008.
regards
Association for the Legal Right to Abortion (ALRA) in Victoria
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The situation is ‘broke’
- Abortion is the only widely practiced medical procedure in Australia that is criminalised.
- We are currently experiencing a crisis in service provision. Although it is difficult to ascertain exact numbers, the region of Greater Melbourne is serviced by only a handful of private clinics and public hospitals. In rural and regional areas of Victoria, the situation is critical with few private clinics and access to terminations in public hospitals limited or unavailable.
- Women are having difficulty in accessing services due to restrictive practices in some areas, particularly regional and rural parts of the state. In at least one regional hospital, training doctors were told that the hospital should turn women away as the hospital doesn’t perform abortions.
- Restrictions in access to abortion make it unsafe- the threat to privacy, the increase costs, increase distress and delay in finding services puts women’s health at risk.
- The legal situation allows hospitals and doctors to avoid their responsibility to provide a full range of medical services to their communities, including reproductive health services, and including abortion.
- The current legal situation places doctors and their staff in an invidious position. It deters young doctors from training to provide abortions, it provides ammunition for those in society who harass and abuse doctors involved with abortion. This further exacerbates the crisis in service provision as older doctors retire and younger doctors do not replace them.
- The uncertain legal status contributes to an atmosphere that allows groups of people to attack abortion clinics, harass and intimidate women and their partners attempting to access abortion services
- MPs may ask how we know all this- we are informed of these situations by service users, health professionals working in field, General Practitioners, and Obstetrician/ Gynaecologists. Ibid., p. 118.
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Public Support
- There is broad based support for the removal of abortion from the Crimes Act.
- Independent studies consistently show over 80% of Australians support the right to choose (as outlined in ALRA Briefing Paper # 2)
- Most religious affiliations do not greatly alter these approval levels.
- This is not a party issue- independent studies show attitudes to abortion are similar across political party affiliation.
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Number of Abortions
- It is difficult to access accurate data on the number of abortions. Currently, only South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory collect accurate statistics (Source: Aust Govt Parliamentary Research Brief: “How many abortions are there in Australia?” Available from: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rb/2004-05/05rb09.htm)
- According to the Health Insurance Commission (HIC) 18,713 Medicare-funded abortive procedures were undertaken in Victoria and Tasmania5 over the 12-month period from July 2003 to June 2004. This is 2,719 fewer than the 21,432 procedures reported 10 years earlier. The number of procedures has reduced in the 0-24 year age group and the 25-34 year old group. However, there has been a slight increase in abortive procedures in women aged 35+ over the past decade.
- Accurate collection of data should be aimed at assisting the development and provision of methods to reduce the incidence of unwanted pregnancies as well as the effective support of women experiencing them.
- The location of abortion within criminal codes has meant that it has received little serious attention in health policy development, or in planning and co-ordination of service delivery.
- In the ACT, where abortion is legal, the number of abortions has not risen
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Late Termination
- There are very few late terminations in Victoria
- In 2004, 220 Victorian women underwent late terminations and more than half of these were for congenital abnormality. For those who had late termination for other reasons, most of these were young women (under 25 years).
- We all want to reduce the number of late terminations. The best way to do this is decriminalising abortion so that women can access it without having to find their way through difficult and obstructive processes.
- Overseas experience demonstrates that the numbers of late termination do not increase when abortion is not legally criminal.
- So, rather than having an adverse effect on late terminations, abortion law repeal can help us address this issue and find a way to support women who need abortions, and this may reduce the numbers.
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Supporters of the Bill
Julian Burnside QC is a prominent human rights advocate and president of Liberty Victoria. This quote is from an article written by him in the Age, 21.8.2007 ‘Abortion Law in Victoria: Time for decriminalisation’.
‘As stated succinctly by Myfanwy Evans: "Decriminalisation is about acknowledgement, it is about moving away from ideas that question women's moral intentions and place the state in a watchdog position over women's reproductive choices." Decriminalisation recognises women as full equal human beings capable of making their own decisions about reproduction. Liberty Victoria believes it is time that politicians displayed the courage to give women the power to make those decisions.’
Links to the media releases and statements on the Decriminalisation of Abortion that have been released so far
AMA Victoria welcomes parliamentary review of abortion laws
http://www.amavic.com.au/page/Media/Media_Releases/2007/
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Supports Bill to Remove Abortion from Crimes Act (Victoria)
http://beta.ranzcog.edu.au/media/pdfs/Jul-07-JS-Media-Release-re-Abortion-removed-from-Crimes-Act.pdf
Public Health Association of Australia Women's Health Group And Victorian Branch Welcome Bill To Decriminalise Abortion
http://www.phaa.net.au/documents/18-07-07_news_page_Repeal_Bill_media_release_July_07_FINAL_(1).pdf
Women's Health Victoria Supports Decriminalisation of Abortion
http://www.whv.org.au/newsroom.htm#news
Family Planning Victoria Position Statement on Abortion
http://www.fpv.org.au/pdfs/FPV%20Abortion%20Statement%20July%2007.pdf
Royal Woman's Hospital Media Statement
Download pdf
Women's Health East
http://www.whe.org.au/home.html
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