BRISBANE — The International Women's Day collective here has launched a petition campaign to demand that Peter Beattie's Labor state government repeal sections of the criminal code which make abortion illegal.

The report of the Task Force on Women and the Criminal Code has been collecting dust on parliamentary shelves, ignored by the premier, since it was commissioned two years ago by then attorney general Matt Foley.

The report rejected both regulatory frameworks similar to those in South and Western Australia, which make abortion technically legal but restrict its access, and keeping the current law but “clarifying the existing [legal] defence” against prosecution. Instead, the report recommends the outright repeal of the criminal code's sections 224, 225 and 226, which outlaw abortion.

Meeting on April 5, the IWD collective resolved to issue a petition based on the report's recommendation to repeal anti-abortion provisions. The petition will be presented to the state government on August 8, the date of a national day of action for abortion rights.

Collective members are also seeking a member of parliament willing to put up a private member's bill to finally legalise abortion. The Labor Party now has 27 women members of Queensland parliament, and the collective is hopeful that at least one of them will come forward to back such a bill.

The pro-abortion rights group Children by Choice will put the petition on its web site, <http://www.childrenbychoice.org>, and the collective will meet again on April 19 to further plan its campaign.

The IWD collective will take up other issues as well, including the transfer of funds from public to private education.

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