May 28th was the
Global Day of Action for Women's Health. Around the world, the
preceding week was punctuated by significant actions for abortion
rights. The most significant was the resounding "Yes" vote
in the May 25 Irish referendum on removing the ban on abortion from
the constitution. This gave a shot in the arm to the campaign for
abortion rights in the Six Counties of Northern Ireland, where the
anti-abortion provisions of the UK's Offences Against the Persons Act
of 1861 remain in force. Hundreds gathered in Belfast on May 28th to
launch a campaign to push the UK government to lift the ban on
abortion rights there. The same day, protesters in Brisbane rallied
to push to overturn similar legislation in Queensland.
In NSW, May 24 was
marked by the passage through the state's upper house of a bill to
protect access to abortion clinics. It is due to be debated in the
lower house next month.
If passed, the bill
will introduce stiff penalties ($5500 fine or 6 months in gaol or
both, for a first offence; $11000 or 12 months or both, for a second
offence) for anyone harassing people entering medical clinics where
abortions are performed. Similar penalties would apply to anyone
interfering with or obstructing anyone trying to enter the clinic,
anyone trying to talk or give literature about abortion to anyone
entering the clinic (if it is likely to cause distress or anxiety),
and anyone filming or recording anyone in the vicinity of the clinic
without their consent.
The legislation is
designed to create a 150m buffer zone around the clinics and clinic
entrances, to allow anyone needing to access the clinics - patients,
support people and staff - to do so in privacy and without
intimidation or abuse from those opposed to abortion.
Tasmania, Victoria
and the ACT all have similar legislation. There are moves to
introduce protective legislation into WA, and the Queensland Law
Reform Commission, due to report on modernising the state's abortion
laws by the end of June, invited public comment on the issue of safe
access zones among other issues.
In NSW, WA and
Queensland, where there is no protective legislation, groups opposed
to abortion regularly set up outside clinics to try to prevent
abortion by intimidating or convincing patients to change their
minds. They are especially active in the 40 days of Lent, observed by
some Christian traditions. (For some reason ostensibly to do with
following the person who said "Don't judge others, so you won't
be judged," while other people are giving up chocolate, they
give up minding their own business.) Outside a WA clinic this year,
they were distributing information with links to an organisation
based in the US, "And then there were none," that aims to
end abortion "from the inside out," by convincing staff to
stop providing services.
But some clinics are
subjected to the harassment year round. MLC Penny Sharp, who
co-sponsored the NSW bill, described the behaviour, which extends
from displaying distressing images and attempting to hand unwanted
literature to people, to sprinkling holy water on people, and calling
people "murderer."
Even quiet prayer
and polite greetings - in a context where it is clear that a
judgement is being made against the decision to undergo abortion -
has potential for harm. At best it represents a form of observation
that poses a threat to women's right to access reproductive
healthcare in privacy and dignity. While many people undergoing
abortion find the decision straightforward, for others, it is
difficult and painful and the distress of the decision and procedure
can be compounded by the scrutiny and judgement of others. In any
case, it is not a form of scrutiny, stigmatisation, harassment or
interference consistently meted out to men, or indeed, to anyone for
any other kind of healthcare.
We don't accept it
for anything else, and we shouldn't accept it for abortion care.
Opponents of the
legislation (in the NSW upper house, predictably, Fred Nile) claim
the law will impede the exercise of free speech. Free speech is an
important right for progressives to defend. Historically, legislation
curtailing political rights of bigots and haters has been used to
attack the left. Freedom of speech is not a right well codified in
law in Australia. The High Court has ruled that the constitution
contains an implied protection of free speech, but defines it
narrowly in terms of participation in activities connected to
parliamentary democracy. But clinic safe zone legislation does
nothing to stop the development of public political campaigns
anywhere apart from in the vicinity of the clinic. But by preventing
behaviour intended to stigmatise abortion, and the harassment and
intimidation of people accessing clinics, such legislation can
promote the privacy, dignity and safety of women and people needing
abortion, and the friends, family and staff who support and serve
them.
Clinic safety
legislation should be enacted and enforced. Whether pregnancy
termination is being contemplated because a wanted pregnancy has been
found to be unable to survive, because an unplanned pregnancy is
unwanted, or for any of the complicated reasons that can bring a
pregnant person to an abortion clinic, no-one should be faced with
the public shaming and humiliation that go on outside services at the
moment.
In NSW and Qld, such
protective measures, if introduced, will have an immediate impact on
improving the wellbeing of those who access abortion services.
However, such measures alone won't be enough to improve access to
abortion, while the procedure remains on the criminal codes of those
states and generally inaccessible through the public hospital system.
To be safe and accessible, abortion needs to be legal and available
in locations close to where people live. Last year, the NSW upper
house rejected a bill to remove abortion from the criminal code,
while a similar bill was withdrawn from the Queensland parliament
without even being debated. The campaigns for abortion law reform in
both states remain active despite these setbacks, and last week's
victory in the NSW upper house can only be a further motivation for
the campaign to make free, safe, legal abortion accessible on demand
without apology.
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| Outside clinic in Midland, WA, February 2018. Would not be permitted under clinic protection legislation. |
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| Outside an abortion service and advocacy conference, Brisbane, August 2018. Would not be affected by clinic protection legislation. |
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