...and ain't i a woman?: Abortion under attack, again
The tabling of the Paul Osborne anti-abortion bill in the ACT parliament should not have come as much of a surprise to people who are pro-choice. The bill is an attempt by the mis-named Right to Life to build on the restrictions imposed on abortion access in Western Australia earlier this year, and follows repeated attempts to: remove Medicare rebates for abortion; limit abortion access to victims of rape or incest, and abortion services to a small number of designated public hospitals; and define the beginning of human life as the moment of conception, thereby giving full legal rights to the foetus.
In WA, abortion laws were removed from the criminal code and new sections included the state's Health Act which impose new restrictions on abortion access. Osborne appears to have borrowed directly from the bill that was eventually passed in WA, the Davenport bill.
Prior to Davenport, self-referral to a clinic was normal in WA. Now a woman needs her doctor's referral to a clinic doctor. Reporting requirements have been tightened, and further restrictions apply to those under 16 years old or needing late-term abortions.
Abortion is one of the safest surgical procedures when performed in sanitary conditions by a competent practitioner. It is a 15-minute procedure (when performed under a local anaesthetic) which is seven times safer than carrying a pregnancy to term.
As such, abortion should be subject to the same laws as any other medical procedure, not singled out for special treatment. The imposition of special regulations for abortion is an attempt by the state to control women's reproductive lives.
One prominent "pro-choice" advocate in the current abortion debate in the ACT unfortunately argues otherwise. Leslie Cannold, who is receiving significant media coverage in the ACT at present, advocates more laws to regulate abortion or, as she puts it, to protect women's choices.
Cannold argues that, after 25 years of relatively safe and accessible abortion, it is time to move on and discuss the responsibilities which go with the right to abortion access. That is, she supports the very thing feminists must campaign against — more laws and restrictions imposed on women's bodies.
Her argument is actually very similar to Osborne's. In the Canberra Times earlier this month she states: " ... while abortion laws must be changed, the changes must validate women's ethical perspective, and accord women the respect they deserve as responsible moral agents".
But tinkering around the edges, attempting to liberalise, or qualify or reform the laws applying to women's reproductive lives won't ensure women's right to choose. Only the repeal of all abortion laws and the provision of safe, publicly funded abortion services will make unrestricted choice possible for all women.
Just six years ago, ACT pro-choice activists organised a broad, sustained and eventually successful campaign to have the ACT's Termination of Pregnancy Act (1978) repealed. This act had been introduced in the late 1970s to restrict abortion services following the liberal interpretation of the laws in NSW. At the time of its introduction it was painted as "protecting" women from greedy, profiteering doctors.
Now, just four years after it was established, the ACT's only abortion clinic faces closure if Osborne's legislation is passed.
The pro-choice movement needs to learn from history — the only changes to abortion laws which will ensure that women are accorded "respect" is to repeal the laws.
We must defeat the Osborne bill, not try to "improve" it for women. Then we must take the next step and campaign for the repeal of all abortion laws.
To succeed we need strong, well-organised networks of pro-choice women within the ACT and Australia-wide, for it is certain that the Right to Life will push its abortion law "reform" campaign from one state or territory to the next.
Those of us who believe that women have an unqualified right to control their reproductive lives must also go on the offensive and demand: Repeal all abortion laws now!
By Lara Pullin