Australia: This Is Why Getting An Abortion Outside Of A Major City Is So Damned Hard

This Is Why Getting An Abortion Outside Of A Major City Is So Damned Hard
"It can be a difficult place for patients to access contraception, let alone abortion."

Posted on August 07, 2017
Gina Rushton
BuzzFeed News Reporter, Australia

Renata lives in Inverell, a “small country town” in rural New South Wales where “everyone knows everyone”.

In 2009 she fell pregnant unexpectedly.

“We had only been together for about seven weeks and things were already going south in the relationship at that point,” Renata, who asked for us not to use her real name for privacy reasons, told BuzzFeed News.

“I was 19-years-old and I was really scared about going to my family GP because I thought it would get back to my parents.

Continued at source: Buzzfeed: https://www.buzzfeed.com/ginarushton/getting-an-abortion-outside-of-a-major-city


Australia: This Woman’s Doctor Refused Her Abortion Because She Was “Meant To Be A Mother”

This Woman’s Doctor Refused Her Abortion Because She Was “Meant To Be A Mother”
"His response horrified me."

Posted on April 09, 2017, 04:06 GMT
Gina Rushton
BuzzFeed News Reporter, Australia

Adelaide financial advisor Tamsyn*, 46, fell pregnant while using the contraceptive pill at age 31 and living in Queensland, where abortion remains in the criminal code.

The procedure is only lawful in Queensland if performed so as to “prevent serious danger to the woman’s physical or mental health” but around 14,000 terminations take place there every year involving women who meet the criteria or have doctors who are willing to say they do.

"I knew immediately that I couldn't have a baby, I needed an abortion," Tamsyn told BuzzFeed News.

Continued at source: Buzzfeed: https://www.buzzfeed.com/ginarushton/this-womans-doctor-refused-her-abortion


Australia: Queensland MPs must seize the moment on abortion

Queensland MPs must seize the moment on abortion
February 26 2017
by Emily Howie and Kate Marsh

Queensland MPs stand at a crossroads when it comes to the state's abortion laws, but one thing is abundantly clear: the status quo is unacceptable. New polling released this week shows overwhelming public support for women's right to choose abortion in Queensland and that voters are turned off by MPs who support criminalising abortion.

Queensland's MPs currently have a unique opportunity to modernise the state's abortion laws. This law reform is vital because the crime of abortion remains in Queensland's Criminal Code, right in between "incest" and "indecent acts". Under the Code, women and doctors risk 7 to 14 years imprisonment for procuring an abortion.

Continued at source: Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/queensland-mps-must-seize-the-moment-on-abortion-20170226-guls2w.html


Australia: No agreement on Qld abortion bill

No agreement on Qld abortion bill
8:06pm February 17, 2017

The LNP members of a Queensland parliamentary committee tasked with investigating a bill to decriminalise abortion have expressed their reservations about the legislation.

The Health, Communities, Disability Services and Domestic and Family Violence Committee handed down its report into independent Cairns MP Rob Pyne's controversial bill on Friday afternoon.

Continued at source: 9news: http://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/02/17/12/45/respectful-abortion-debate-needed-premier


Australia: Abortion access in Queensland is about to get even harder

November 3 2016, Sydney Morning Herald
by Daisy Dumas

Queensland has the most restrictive abortion legislation in Australia, and the situation is about to get worse.

Marie Stopes International will cease surgical terminations in two of its north Queensland clinics, making abortions even harder to access for a remote population already heavily disadvantaged by geography and socio-economy.

The news, exclusive to Daily Life, is a blow to women in a state where most abortions are still unlawful according to its 1899 criminal code.

[continued at link]
Source: Sydney Morning Herald