By Pat Brewer
CANBERRA — After a 17-hour sitting, the ACT Legislative Assembly imposed new restrictions on women's access to abortion on November 25.
In a compromise, amendments moved by independent MP and health minister Michael Moore eliminated the worst aspects of independent MLA Paul Osborne's second anti-abortion bill. This bill was based on amendments to Osborne's first bill by Liberal attorney general Gary Humphries.
The bill was tabled on November 18. It was debated, a set of hitherto unseen amendments proposed and passed, and the bill passed, all on the same day. This was despite written warnings from the Director of Public Prosecutions that the bill contained serious ambiguities in law.
Statements from the discrimination commissioner in the ACT Human Rights Office that the bill appeared to breach sections of the Discrimination Act (1991) were also ignored.
The new legislation imposes requirements on women seeking an abortion that are not applied to any other medical procedure, including:
- the mandatory imposition of information outlining the medical risks of abortion and carrying to term, with pictures or drawings of a foetus at regular stages of development, and details of agencies dealing with pregnancy, adoption or family planning;
- a written declaration by the woman and her doctor that the information has been provided;
- a 72-hour "cooling off" period after receiving the information before an abortion can take place; and
- an offer of counselling for women seeking abortion.
These regulations are nothing more than an attempt to impose guilt and anxiety on women, especially those faced with the consequences of rape, incest or foetal abnormality.
For example, a woman with a severely abnormal foetus is forced to view the pictorial development of a normal foetus and dwell on this for 72 hours before the necessary termination can take place. No wonder Right to Life has expressed satisfaction with the bill.
No event or malpractice triggered the bill. Abortion has been legally carried out in the ACT since a political struggle in 1994, out of which a clinic was established. Previously, abortion could take place only in hospitals so there was virtually no abortion access.
The new clinic provides information and counselling as a matter of course and it is provided by sympathetic staff. Many believe the Osborne bill is an attempt to get rid of the clinic.
The amended bill allows the health minister to decide what constitutes an "approved facility". At present, Moore, who supports the clinic, makes the this decision, but there is no guarantee that a later minister will not withdraw approval. Considering the anti-abortion composition of the assembly, this is a real risk.
The willingness of so-called pro-choice supporters like Chief Minister Kate Carnell to wheel and deal for numbers on other issues (like the proposed privatisation of the electricity supplier, ACTEW), shows how fragile abortion rights have become in the ACT.
The new regulations reaffirm the criminality of abortion and state that no-one is bound to perform an abortion or provide counselling or advice.
Statistics on abortion must be collected every three months to be tabled in the assembly. These include figures on the number of abortions performed, the reasons for the abortion, the ages of the women and the foetuses, and the number of women who have previously had an abortion at the facility.
A seven-member medical advisory panel of obstetric and neonatal doctors and nurses from the two major ACT hospitals, as well as a psychiatrist appointed by the relevant professional association, will be established to approve the information package. Three must be women.
The composition of the medical advisory board signals further dangers to abortion access. The regulations state that three of the medical professionals have to be nominated by the board of Calvary Hospital. This is a Catholic hospital run by the Company of Little Mary. Any practitioners associated with that hospital, regardless of their faith, have to abide by the practices of these nuns who are absolutely opposed to abortion.