By Ana Kailis
BRISBANE — The recent furore in Queensland over the practice of second trimester abortions being performed by Dr David Grundmann has again highlighted the inadequacy of women's access to abortion in Australia.
In response to questions by National Party leader Rob Borbidge and acting Liberal leader Santo Santoro in parliament, Premier Wayne Goss has admitted that the right to abortion is a question of choice for a woman and her doctor. But despite this, abortion in Queensland cannot be accessed through the public health system and it remains on the criminal code.
Children by Choice estimates that travel costs alone to access private abortion facilities are costing women in Queensland $510,000 per year. Women in rural areas are often denied the choice to terminate a pregnancy because of the difficulty faced in accessing abortion services.
"The government had the ideal opportunity to decriminalise abortion with the review of the criminal code that was conducted when they first came into office", Children by Choice spokesperson Unna Liddy told Green Left Weekly.
"This review was going to bring the criminal code into line with community attitudes. Sixty-six per cent of Queenslanders supported decriminalisation of abortion at the time. For them to say that abortion wasn't on the political agenda then, is in clear contradiction with the government's recent comments."
However, according to Liddy, Goss' statements to parliament do open up opportunities for the pro-choice campaign. "Decriminalisation and access are the two key aspects of the abortion rights campaign. The statements that the premier has made mean there is an open avenue to campaign for abortion to be made available through the public health sector. Goss has contextualised access to abortion as a health issue, and as a health issue it should be available like all other medical procedures through the public health system."
Children by Choice is campaigning for a public abortion service that is sensitive to women's needs and experiences. Only such a service linked with all other health services and university health professional training courses can ensure appropriate access for women.
Where abortion law reform has been implemented without this perspective, access to abortion has been restricted. The reformed abortion laws in South Australia, for example, force women who are faced with an unwanted pregnancy to obtain terminations in public hospitals. The result is that women who can afford to leave the state to procure an abortion.
Commenting on the debate about a woman's right to choose, Susan Price, spokesperson for the Democratic Socialist Party, told Green Left Weekly, "The Goss government now has to put its money where its mouth is. It's not enough to just adopt a no-change policy . Abortion cannot be regarded in a women's health context while it still remains in the criminal code and inaccessible for many women. It is clear that the majority of people in Australia support the decriminalisation of abortion, yet decriminalisation and access through the public health system have been ignored by the state Labor government.
"The community support for women's access to abortion has to be seen as a result of campaigning by the women's movement for over 20 years. It is only through continuing this campaign that abortion will finally be decriminalised in Queensland and throughout Australia."