And ain't i a woman: Fighting for abortion in the ACT
Since anti-abortion laws were removed from the criminal code on August
21, the Australian Capital Territory has had the most progressive abortion
laws in Australia. These laws didn't just come at the whim of politicians,
they have been fought long and hard for.
When I moved to Canberra in 1987, abortion in the ACT was restricted
by the Termination of Pregnancy Act, which only permitted abortion at public
hospitals after an application had been put to the hospital ethics committee.
Confidential abortions were unavailable. Rape wasn't considered sufficient
grounds for a termination, you had to show that being pregnant would damage
you.
There were different views among activists involved in the feminist
movement. While Marxist feminists were arguing for a focus on reproductive
rights, separatist feminists, including women organising the Rape Crisis
Centre collective, kept out of the campaign. Some considered heterosexual
sex “sleeping with the enemy”, and some argued that abortion was a form
of violence against women.
As
part of my work at the Rape Crisis Centre, I had to take women up to Sydney
for abortions and help them organise accommodation. Often we had to organise
child care as well, and keep the operation from their families. It was
a humbling and eye-opening experience, and it made me question the separatist
abstention from the pro-choice campaign.
A campaign started in 1989, in response to a private member's bill to
end Medicare payments for abortion that was put to federal parliament by
Liberal MP Alisdair Webster.
We set up an organising committee, picketed public meetings and built
a national mobilisation to oppose the bill — we blocked Commonwealth Avenue.
The Webster bill was withdrawn.
Two main groups campaigned for repeal of the Termination of Pregnancy
Act. I was involved in ACT Pro-Choice, along with other members of the
Democratic Socialist Party, Resistance, the International Socialist Organisation,
independent feminists and the student associations. ACT Pro-Choice had
a clear mass action focus — we wanted a loud and visible campaign. The
second group, Options, was made up of ALP women and some independents,
who focused on legal work and lobbying. They often asked us to “tone it
down”.
The Right to Lifers, however, were also adopting a mass action approach.
They held pickets, vigils and big rallies. They always had a lot more money
than us. They hired planes to carry anti-choice banners and write smoke
messages in the sky, they held huge rallies in city parks with speakers
like Fred Nile, and letterboxed every household in the ACT with their “Precious
Feet” campaign. We countered with a “Precious Choice” campaign.
In the end, we won, and the Termination of Pregnancy Act was repealed
in 1992.
Pro-choice Labor MLA Wayne Berry put a private member's bill to clarify
that ACT abortions did not then come under the NSW Crimes Act, which made
it illegal unless the woman could prove physical or psychological damage
from carrying the pregnancy to term. The bill was defeated. Berry, who
was health minister in the ACT Labor government at the time, set up a Family
Planning clinic, which could carry out abortions, as soon as the Termination
of Pregnancy Act was defeated.
The clinic was a big victory. Before it began, less than 150 women claimed
Medicare for abortions in the ACT every year, while over 3000 ACT women
claimed for the procedure in NSW.
At different times there were threats against the clinic. We received
information that Right to Life was pushing clinic patients into bringing
civil charges against the clinic for damages. They were also pressuring
the Department of Public Prosecutions to make the police get involved.
Events in other states were sparking actions and public meetings on both
sides.
The pro-life campaign had good networks, and we had Green Left Weekly,
which reported events in other states and internationally. Our main activity
for a while was supporting the clinic — finding doctors for it and keeping
it in business. In the US, there were bombings of clinics and murders of
abortion workers.
The charging of an abortion doctor in Western Australia in 1998 was
what really spurred both sides into action again. ACT Pro-Choice started
weekly meetings again, and brought in a guest speaker from WA. And right-wing
independent Member of the Legislative Assembly Paul Osborne introduced
a rabidly anti-abortion bill.
The bill forced doctors to distribute pictures of foetuses to women
seeking abortion, and required a cooling-off period after women sought
the procedure. It also required regular reporting to the Legislative Assembly
of abortion statistics — how many had been performed, what was the age
of the foetuses, etc. No other medical procedure is reported to parliament
like that.
The pro-choice movement responded with a picket of the assembly, public
meetings and a series of protests. We had a huge rally in Civic square.
But the bill was passed, with a few amendments. It was so undemocratic
— Canberrans overwhelmingly opposed it, they rallied against it in huge
numbers, but the parliamentarians used the “conscience vote” to vote it
up.
ACT Pro-Choice and Resistance continued to mobilise and fight the demoralisation
that started to set in among pro-choice activists after the bill was passed.
Berry pledged at the time to work to overturn the bill and sought direction
from pro-choice women at public meetings about how to do so.
We argued that there should be no separate legislation to replace the
Osborne bill, but that abortion should be under the Health Act like all
other medical procedures. So Berry requested the drafting of a repeal bill,
which took about a year. Options was re-founded as Options for Women, with
number-crunching in the assembly as its main focus. ACT Pro-Choice had
no real organisational form, but actions continued, often organised by
Resistance.
The new bill is a fantastic step forward and sets a substantial precedent.
The amendments, which were designed to get Liberal MLA Helen Cross on side,
are mainly to medical procedures regulations. Abortion is still treated
differently from other medical procedures — health-care workers can refuse
to participate and the government decides what facilities can and can't
perform abortions.
If it wasn't for the conscience vote, the ALP, Greens and Democrats
could have passed the bill unamended. But it is a great position from which
to rebuild the pro-choice movement.
BY LARA PULLIN
[The author is a member of the Democratic Socialist Party and ACT Pro-Choice.]
From Green Left Weekly, September 25, 2002.
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