Abortion should not be a crime
A pro-choice crowd of 400 rallied in the afternoon shade outside the Queensland parliament on 16 February. Hand-drawn placards declared, “It’s not 1899” and “If abortion is a crime, then jail me now!”
Abortion remains a serious offence under Queensland criminal law. Women can face up to seven years’ jail for obtaining the procedure. Abortions still occur, but can be difficult to access, particularly outside of Brisbane. A small number of private clinics provide the procedure at a cost hundreds of dollars.
Shanna, a 26-year-old social work student told Red Flag: “I think women should have access to safe health care regardless of their location in a regional, rural or metropolitan area. And the fact that people can’t even get care in cities is frickin’ ridiculous”.
The rally was organised in anticipation of two bills that are to be debated in the state parliament next month. The first bill would remove abortion from the criminal code. The second would establish a series of guidelines, including 50 metre anti-harassment “safe zones” around clinics that perform abortions and rules specifying that a woman who is more than 24 weeks pregnant can seek an abortion if two doctors believe it necessary for her health.
It’s not clear how the vote will go. Labor MP Jackie Trad spoke at the rally, but her party has allowed a conscience vote on the bills. Fairfax media surveyed all Queensland MPs; 44 refused to give an answer or claimed to be undecided.
Just a few days before the pro-choice gathering, an anti-abortion march began in the same location. Anna McCormack, who has been involved in the fight for women’s reproductive rights for 40 years, said: “While they don’t have community support, they are able to lasso support from the Catholic Church. And in previous years, they’ve bussed people in from different Catholic parishes”.
The anti-abortion march was led by hard-right politicians: One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts, state Liberal National Party MP Mark Robinson and Australian Marriage Forum president David van Gend – who last year told the Courier Mail that he believed in “sexual reorientation therapy” to “cure” gay teenagers.
The issue has become a battleground in Queensland. A no vote would be a massive win for misogyny.
