Abortion
is still a crime in Queensland, even though 80% of people support a
woman's right to decide. Queensland parliament recently failed to
pass legislation to decriminalise and regulate abortion. Instead, the
premier, deputy-premier and attorney-general promised to refer the
issue to the Queensland Law Reform Commission (QLRC) and enact
legislation based on the QLRC's report, in the next term of
government. So far this referral hasn't been made, and there's every
possibility it will report back too late for legislation to be
introduced this year.
The
Queensland Criminal Code's sections 224-226 criminalise abortion.
There are separate offences for the person performing abortion on a
woman, for a woman trying to have one, and for anyone supplying or
administering anything that will be used for an abortion. Judges have
ruled that exceptions exist to prevent serious danger to the woman's
mental or physical health.
There
have been prosecutions but not convictions under these laws. There
are doctors who will provide abortion more-or-less on request. But
these doctors work mostly in the private sector, mostly in Southeast
Queensland. They provide abortion with a thin legal protection (for
women undergoing abortion and themselves), usually depending on
forming a medical opinion that continuing the pregnancy and raising a
child would pose a serious mental health risk.
This has
wide-reaching impacts.
It means
that women seeking legal, safe abortion are in a position where they
must satisfy a doctor that the abortion is necessary to prevent
serious harm to their mental health – that is, it is not recognised
as simply a woman or pregnant person's right to decide. The law gives
weight to anti-abortion stigma, by singling out a health issue and a
women's rights issue, and turning it into a crime.
In
practical terms, the legal ambiguity surrounding abortion means that
anti-abortion hospital administrations don't need to ensure services
are provided and can even discipline doctors who provide such
services. While some public hospitals provide abortion according to
the health department guidelines issued in line with the
(restrictive) law, most abortions are provided outside the public
hospital system and none in the publicly-funded, Catholic-run ones.
Women and pregnant people pay more and travel further because the
laws shield anti-abortion administrations who can hide behind a very
narrow interpretation of “serious danger to the woman's mental or
physical health.” For poor and marginalised women, especially those
living in remote areas, the access barriers may be so high that safe
legal abortion is simply out of reach.
The
consequences – the invasion of privacy that occurs when
prosecutions occur, the requirement for young people to get a court
order to be allowed to undergo abortion, unsafe self-induced
abortion, the birth of unwanted children, the financial burden of
abortion provided privately, and disruption to medical careers as a
consequence of legal or disciplinary proceedings – all add up to a
current-day situation of inequity. Women and pregnant people are
denied reproductive justice. Their health care professionals risk
legal sanction and deregistration.
While
getting abortion off the criminal code won't by itself solve all the
access issues, they are a crucial step in that process. And it will
be an important signal that the state recognises women to be the ones
to make the decision about continuing or ending their own pregnancies
– bringing it into line with contemporary Queenslanders' social
values.
For
decades, abortion rights campaigners have rallied and lobbied
parliament for legal change and improved service access.
The ALP
has a pro-choice position on paper, but refuses to ensure its members
abide by it. Labor MP's have repeatedly told pro-choice campaigners
that they didn't have the numbers to win reform, and that they'd
legislate in their next term of government. The LNP has an
anti-abortion position, but some of their members hold liberal,
pro-choice views.
In 2016,
Independent MP Rob Pyne introduced bills to decriminalise and
regulate abortion. On March 1, the Queensland parliament was to have
had the opportunity to put the 1899 laws in the dustbin of history
where they belong.
The LNP
promised they would allow a conscience vote on the bills to
decriminalise and regulate abortion, but when it came down to it,
announced they would all vote against.
Without
a bound ALP pro-choice vote or LNP free vote, the bills were set to
be voted down. Going ahead with the debate and vote in parliament
would have forced all MPs to declare their position, allowing their
constituents the opportunity to hold them to account.
The
bills were withdrawn, with a promise by the premier, deputy and
attorney-general that the issue would be referred to the Queensland
Law Reform Commission and that the next Labor government would enact
legislation based on the commission's report. So far, the QLRC
referral hasn't been made.
The
withdrawal of the bills means yet further delay to this already
long-delayed step of justice for women and pregnant people. We refuse
to accept quiet assurances that the next government will do what past
governments have failed to do: to stop treating women like criminals
for controlling our own reproductive lives.
It is
not good enough to push it off into the never-never. No-one knows
what the composition of the next parliament will be. However, since
this is the path that has been promised, we want the QLRC referral to
be made now. We want to ensure that it reports quickly. And we want
this parliament, this term, under this government, to legislate to
decriminalise abortion.
The
parliamentary health committee has already twice conducted extensive
hearings into the legislation, receiving submissions from
psychological, medical, legal and ethical experts, women, women's
rights and health care consumer advocates, abortion providers and
numerous others. The 2002 Report
of
the Taskforce on Women and the Criminal Code
advocated decriminalisation of abortion. While the
QLRC will need to conduct its own research, it will have these
reports, along with reports of the Victorian Law Reform Commission
and those prepared for the Tasmanian parliament all available to it.
Those who made submissions to the parliamentary health committee
would be well placed to make submissions to the QLRC within a short
timeframe.
The
QLRC has a staff of 4, with only one other report currently underway,
due
to report at the end of June.
So
a timeframe of 6 months for the report, which would potentially allow
the matter to be dealt with in the term of the current parliament,
would be quite reasonable.
We
therefore request Premier Palaszczuk, Deputy-Premier Trad and
Attorney-General D'Ath to ensure the immediate referral of this issue
to the QLRC, with a timeframe for reporting of no more than six
months, and to make a public commitment to introduce legislation to
decriminalise abortion
in
this term of parliament, in 2017.
Sign
the petition here:
https://www.change.org/p/annastacia-palaszczuk-make-abortion-legal-in-queensland-in-2017
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