Why I'm Not Speaking at IWD 2018

I'm writing because I was advertised to speak at the Brisbane/Meanjin International Women's Day rally this year and I want to explain why I have withdrawn.

The Women's Abortion Rights Campaign, of which I've been a member for a year, was invited to provide a speaker, and asked me to do it. Since then, the rally organisers announced as an entertainer someone known to publicly express views hostile to trans people - the person who at last year's IWD rally carried a sign saying "trans activism is misogyny". The underlying message - that activism of trans women for recognition of their gender, and for inclusion in society as women, is in itself misogyny - only makes sense if trans women are not recognised to be women.

International Women's Day is a day to commemorate and deepen the struggle for the rights of women. As women press for abortion rights around the globe and around the country, the struggle for legal, accessible abortion in Queensland is at an important stage this year. International Women's Day offers an opportunity to amplify our call for abortion to be legal and for safe abortion to be widely accessible.

The struggle for abortion rights and the many connected struggles for women's liberation, are made stronger by the solidarity of all women, across all intersecting oppressions. I believe an International Women's Day that excludes some women weakens the struggles of us all.

In this context, I argued that WARC should not stay silent on a platform where transphobic views are likely to be expressed. Instead, I argued we should include in our contribution a recognition that abortion rights sit as part of the broader struggle for the rights of all women, including trans women.

This was not acceptable to WARC. The substantial argument made was that it is "not transphobic" to say "trans women are not women." But this is virtually the definition of transphobia.

[Update: To clarify: I am not accusing WARC of transphobia. The decision made was to say that WARC is opposed to transphobia. However, in a context where the argument was being made that to misgender trans women is "not transphobic," I believe this fudged the issue.]

All women have an interest in ending transphobic exclusion. Exclusion is clearly harmful to trans women, but has an impact on all women. If trans women "aren't women," who gets to decide who are women? Policing women's bodies means it isn't only trans women who are singled out, but potentially anyone deemed too tall, too hairy, too muscled, with too deep a voice. At worst, demands to check genitals, or for blood tests represent intrusions offensive and demeaning - harmful to anyone subjected to them.

I felt that to stay silent when trans women's involvement as women in the struggle for women's liberation is disputed was a compromise that should not be made - not on International Women's Day, not by WARC, not by me.

WARC's decision not to speak up meant I felt I was left with no choice but to withdraw from speaking. I wouldn't share a platform where racism or homophobia were being expressed without speaking out. Transphobia is just as dangerous.

For myself, I am committed to the struggle for abortion rights and access in Queensland, for abortion law reform and free, safe, legal, accessible abortion on demand without apology (which I was looking forward to speaking to at the rally); and to the many-faceted struggle for women's liberation. I'm keen to contribute in a way that advances our march towards an inclusive feminism for the 99%, a feminism that doesn't leave any woman behind.

International Women's Day rally Brisbane/Meanjin

Over 300 people took part in the Brisbane/Meanjin International Women's Day rally and march at Emma Miller Place on March 10.

According to the information provided by the rally Working Group and rally speaker, retired academic Diane Zetlin, Emma Miller Place itself is of historical significance - for the Aboriginal community, the feminist movement, the trade union movement and numerous other social justice struggles, with countless public demonstrations being held there. It was named after labour and women's movement leader Emma Miller who famously led women textile workers defying a mounted police attack on a general strike for union rights in February 1912. The women charged police lines, defending themselves with the hatpins they stuck into the horses' rumps. Again the women's liberation movement faced off against the police, in 1978 defying Joh Bjelke-Petersen's ban on street marches as they attempted to leave the site (then known as the Roma St forum).

The 2018 march was led by a group of '78ers - veterans of that rally.

A range of pressing issues for women were addressed by other rally speakers. Ros McLennan, secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions, spoke of the need to address the gender pay gap. She slammed the federal government and employers for their attacks on penalty rates, set to get worse when new legislation takes effect in July. Owing to the concentration of women in low-paying, part-time, casual and precarious work, the impact of cutting penalty rates will be disproportionately borne by women.

Yamatji woman Janine Kelly spoke of the injustices facing Aboriginal women. She relayed a message from her auntie Carol Roe, Aboriginal elder and grandmother of a young woman killed by medical neglect in WA's South Hedland lock-up, calling for justice for Ms Dhu and an end to the racism that kills Aboriginal people in custody. She played a powerful song for Ms Dhu by rappers The Cat Empire; a new recording of it is to be released in the coming week.

Deb McLoughlin, a '78er from the Women's Abortion Rights Campaign, spoke passionately for abortion law reform and for access to abortion in the state's public hospitals. Erin Cameron from Sisters Inside recounted the marginalisation and discrimination facing incarcerated women. Griffith University Senior Law Lecturer Zoe Rathus outlined the difficulties women face in dealing with family law, debunking myths about women's preferential treatment in custody matters, and describing the bind women leaving violent relationships can be placed in: if they try to protect their kids, they may be in violation of court orders; if they comply with court orders, they'll be treated as not believable if they subsequently raise the issue of violence. And Sia Carolyn of the Brisbane Rape and Incest Survivors Support Centre highlighted the ongoing crisis of violence against women. A Palestinian woman spoke in solidarity with imprisoned young woman Ahed Tamimi. A group of Latin American women sang Spanish songs raising awareness of violence against women, and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom performed a piece commemorating Emma Miller's contribution to the struggle against conscription.

The otherwise excellent rally was marred by a small group with transphobic signs (one of whom had been invited onto the platform as an entertainer). A large number of rally participants responded by expressing their support for trans inclusion in various ways. Some stood near and in front of them, holding signs affirming that trans women are women; many cheered when speakers expressed support for trans women's inclusion. On the march, chants were raised in solidarity with ending transphobia. And when the slated entertainer took to the platform, many left, some turned their backs, and others held signs expressing support for trans women.

#IWD #InternationalWomensDay #IWD2018 #feminism #women #StopViolenceAgainstWomen #AbortionRights #abortion #ProChoice #EndWomensPoverty #ChangeTheRules #JusticeForMsDhu #StopBlackDeathsInCustody #TransInclusion #TransWomenAreWomen #AusPol #Brisbane #QldPol

Abortion rights: unfinished business

As women and their allies around the world prepare to strike, rally and march on International Women's Day, abortion rights are once again placed on the agenda in many countries. And in Australia, a new movement for abortion rights is emerging. It's a movement that sits within the broader struggle for reproductive justice that includes the right to have and keep children, the right to contraceptive information and healthcare, the right to respect and autonomy when we're giving birth, the struggle against forced sterilisation, and more. It's part of the wider struggle for the rights of all women - including trans women. But it's still unfinished business.

In some ways, the movement never went away. In the heyday of the second wave of the women's liberation movement, the struggle for abortion rights was one of the central demands around which women rallied across Australia. Nineteenth century laws made abortion a crime. Protests for law repeal morphed into service provision and advocacy, but although in the 60s and 70s, law reform in South Australia and liberal court rulings in Victoria and NSW paved the way for safe abortion services to be established in many states, abortion access is still a postcode lottery. Nowhere is this more apparent than Western Australia, where abortion was mostly decriminalised almost 20 years ago, but access to publicly funded abortion services depends on whether or not you live in the postcode-determined catchment area of the small number of hospitals or hospital-contracted private providers that provide abortion in accordance with the principle established in the law - that it be by "informed consent" - not exactly on demand, but almost.

A lot of abortion law reform has been reactive. From the 1960s to the 1990s in Victoria, NSW and Qld, court rulings in cases of prosecutions under anti-abortion laws recognised (more or less stringently) circumstances when abortion could be legal. In WA and Tasmania, reform of anti-abortion laws was triggered by charges or police investigations into doctors performing abortion. In each case, rallies and other grassroots public actions were organised to give visibility to public support for abortion rights. Similarly, when a restrictive court ruling in NSW threatened to undermine the previously recognised legality of abortion in a wide range of circumstances. But starting with SA and the NT, and more recently, ACT, Victoria, Tasmania and again the NT, legislative reforms came about as a result of more pro-active processes, including legislators working with abortion rights groups and parliamentary responses to law reform commission reports.

Now, the momentum for change keeps growing.

In South Australia, abortion is accessible in designated hospitals - but only there, and only for women who meet the residency provisions. This is a problem for accessing abortion, which in other states can be completed at home.

In the Northern Territory, those who spearheaded last year's breakthrough decriminalisation that still retained some restrictions on abortion after 14 and even more, after 23 weeks have pledged to campaign for the full right to abortion.

At the time of writing, a crisis grips abortion service provision in Tasmania. In 2001, the feminist-run free-standing abortion clinic closed its doors after medical termination (ie, taking medications to induce miscarriage-like abortion) began to be offered by some doctors. This led to bottle-necks in the public hospital system. Services stopped completely after a medical student complained to the police that unlawful abortion was being carried out in Hobart's public hospital. In response to the crisis, Labor premier Jim Bacon recalled parliament, and minimal law reform providing clarity allowed services to recommence and new clinics to be established with legal protection.

Now, after years of private clinic provision of abortions, the much-expanded availability of early medical abortion has again led to a closure of the state's free-standing private abortion services. As a consequence, and in the absence of on-request public hospital services, women unable to obtain early medical abortion once again have to travel interstate for surgical terminations.

The state LNP government refuses to intervene.

By contrast, state and federal Labor have pledged public funding to establish a hospital-affiliated service to meet the need. If Labor wins the March 3 state election, they must not wait for the election of a federal Labor government to make sure public hospitals provide this needed reproductive healthcare. If the LNP maintains power, the crisis and hardship for women and people needing abortion will be set to continue. As former AMA head and Sydney city councillor, Professor Kerryn Phelps put it on ABC's "The Drum," there's no reason why hospitals can't be required to provide the service tomorrow.

In Western Australia, the state government is considering moves to create protective zones around abortion clinics, in line with similar protections in Tasmania, Victoria and the ACT. The need for this is most obvious around this time of year, when some people decide that for Lent, the best thing they can do to show their adherence to the guy who said "Don't judge, so you won't be judged," is to "give up" letting people enter abortion clinics without being confronted by "sidewalk counsellors" who want to convince women to continue their pregnancies, and clinic staff to find another job. In the words of one such group of zealots, they want to end abortion "from the inside out" - to reduce the number of people willing to be involved in abortion services, until "then there were none."

NSW and Queensland remain the only Australian states to keep abortion a crime without spelling out exceptions in the law. In the last two years, both states have seen a number of public rallies and creative actions to build support for abortion law reform. In 2017, both state parliaments failed the test when given the chance to recognise women's and pregnant people's rights to decide about this health matter for themselves.

In NSW, the state upper house voted down a bill to take abortion out of the criminal code and protect women from anti-abortion harassment at clinics. Opinion polling shows majority support for these measures. The bill was introduced by Greens MLC Mehreen Faruqi, and had wide-ranging support, from doctors and public health groups to anti-violence and civil liberties. Just not politicians elected to represent the community.

In Qld, independent MP Rob Pyne withdrew his bills to decriminalise and regulate abortion when Labor wouldn't bind its members to support them and the LNP announced its members would all exercise their "conscience" vote to vote against. In return for withdrawing the bills, Labor referred the issue to the Queensland Law Reform Commission (QLRC).

Women's Abortion Rights Campaign, a grassroots independent feminist activist group, has organised numerous rallies, pickets, petition campaigns and other activities aimed at building and expressing public support for change. It has initiated a rally on May 26 to mark the global day of action for women's health, under the slogan "Abortion rights: it's time." The rally will call for abortion to be decriminalised and for safe abortion to be free, safe and accessible "on demand and without apology." The rally will be held at King George Square, from 11am and will come a month before the QLRC is due to report.

Including the call for abortion to be free is an important component of the struggle for abortion rights. The law as it stands in Qld is a serious obstacle to the exercise of the right to determine whether or not to continue a pregnancy. But the lack of services won't be solved by decriminalisation without a commitment by governments to ensure that the public hospital system - funded to provide the range of healthcare needs - meets the needs for reproductive healthcare, including safe abortion.

We must insist that Qld Labor match the pledge of its Tasmanian counterpart and establish reproductive healthcare hubs throughout the state to meet the unmet need for abortion that remains an obstacle to the full exercise of women's rights.

While a lot changed with the rise of organised feminist campaigns for abortion rights in the 70s, and activism has continued in a range of forms since then, legality and free access to abortion in our communities remains to be won. The right to decide whether or not to continue a pregnancy is a prerequisite for determining the course of our lives. This IWD, we again raise the cry, "our bodies, our lives, our right to decide."