Hundreds rally for abortion rights in Brisbane

Just a week after the victory of the Liberal National Party in the Queensland state election, hundreds rallied in Brisbane city in defence of abortion rights. Homemade signs read “LNP = Anti-choice”, “This is not America” and “Hands off my body, hands off my rights!”. The 500-strong crowd heard speeches and then marched around the city.

Abortion returned as an issue in Queensland after the far-right Katter Australia Party leader, Robbie Katter, pledged to move a private members’ bill to repeal abortion laws during the election campaign. Despite the Liberal National Party leader, David Crisafulli, insisting that there would be no change to the laws if his party were to be elected, he refused to provide details about how this would be achieved, despite being asked more than 132 times.

There is good reason to be concerned. Abortion was only fully decriminalised in Queensland in 2018. At the time, all but three Liberal National MPs voted against decriminalisation, including Crisafulli himself. Crisafulli and sections of the LNP leadership may have wanted to pragmatically smother the issue for electoral reasons during the campaign, but their MPs and party cadre are highly motivated by religious bigotry. They may well decide to make a stand about the issue, regardless of electoral expediency.

While Queensland Labor has attacked Crisafulli for refusing to guarantee abortion rights, at the same time the party capitulates to bigots within its own ranks with the provision of conscience voting, and in government has refused to invest the necessary funds in healthcare to make abortion accessible throughout the state.

As it stands, there are only two clinics that provide surgical abortions in Brisbane. Most public hospitals do not offer abortion access, disproportionately disadvantaging women in regional or rural areas who are forced to travel hours to seek an abortion. Because of this, speakers at the rally emphasised that it is not enough for abortion to be legal, it must also be free and accessible.

Protest also matters. When the only abortion clinic in Rockhampton was closed in 2021, community activists protested for over a year for access to be reinstated to the regional city. Under pressure, the Labor state government announced that the procedure would be provided from then on at the local public hospital.

With abortion activists facing a hostile state government, this is an important lesson in resistance and how to defend hard-won rights.