Women who require late-term abortions are being demonised in Australia – again

As South Australia debates a bill to decriminalise abortion, the same misinformation is being peddled

Gina Rushton
Thu 29 Oct 2020

It wouldn’t be a debate about abortion without a flagrant misinformation campaign about terminations after the first trimester.

A bill to decriminalise abortion was this month introduced in South Australia, the last jurisdiction to do so, and opponents of the legislation have already set about claiming if passed it would legalise and in fact encourage “abortion up to birth”, an offensive but ultimately meaningless phrase. It has been the relentless catchphrase of anti-abortion lobbyists, religious leaders and conservative politicians in every single push to modernise abortion laws in this country but it is not uniquely Australian.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/29/women-who-require-late-term-abortions-are-being-demonised-in-australia-again

Telehealth has improved abortion access for women around Australia. We can’t let it lapse

A dearth of political leadership means abortion drugs remain inaccessible, unsafe and unaffordable for many women

Gina Rushton
Published on Tue 14 Jul 2020

It has been 24 years since the federal government chose the partial privatisation of Telstra over the rights of Australian women to safely terminate a pregnancy with abortion drugs. In 1996, anti-abortion independent Brian Harradine, who held the balance of power in the Senate, agreed to support John Howard’s one-third float of the telecommunications company if the government amended legislation to give the health minister veto to prohibit the import, manufacture or use of abortion drug RU486 (mifepristone).

A perpetual dearth of political leadership in the subsequent quarter century has meant the drugs remain inaccessible, unaffordable and at times unsafe for many women in Australia outside of a certain income or major city.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2020/jul/15/abortion-drugs-remain-inaccessible-unsafe-and-unaffordable-for-many-australian-women

NSW – The social media tactics being used to shape the abortion debate

The social media tactics being used to shape the abortion debate

By Paige Cockburn, state political reporter Ashleigh Raper, and Kevin Nguyen
Posted Sat Aug 24, 2019

While politicians in NSW debate a controversial bill that would decriminalise abortion, opponents of the new laws have been winning the fight in cyberspace.

The bill, proposed by Independent MP Alex Greenwich, was last week debated in the Upper House and is set to be voted on next month.

Continued: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-25/how-anti-abortion-campaigners-are-winning-the-fight-online/11433962

Australia – Senators fire up in tense abortion debate

Senators fire up in tense abortion debate
Senators have locked horns in a fiery debate over changes to Queensland's abortion laws.

Matt Coughlan
Australian Associated Press
August 20, 2018

A Nationals senator has been branded a disgrace for a controversial push to condemn the Queensland government's proposed abortion laws. Queensland senator Barry O'Sullivan sparked a tense debate in parliament on Monday over changes to his state's abortion laws.

Under the state government's move to decriminalise abortion in Queensland, women would be able to ask to terminate pregnancies up to 22 weeks.

Continued: https://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/senators-fire-up-in-tense-abortion-debate/news-story/01863a46271c8331520793701942f1d6

Australia: When a woman can control when she has children, she can control her future

When a woman can control when she has children, she can control her future
Chris Turner

In Australia we often take the access to contraception for granted. We have to talk about the right to reproductive choice for women globally

Friday 24 November 2017

With issues of reproductive rights being raised in the senate and abortion law reform on the agenda for the election in Queensland on Saturday, it’s time to stop and think about what it might be like if we had no choice in planning our own families.
Cory Bernardi's provocative motions on abortion divide Coalition
Read more

Earlier this year my wife and I had our first child. She was 37 and I was 39. I couldn’t imagine being better prepared than we were and yet today our house looks like one of the Wiggles exploded inside it and we are both very, very tired. I often asked myself, how would I ever have coped as a teenage father? What would my life be like if I had not one, but 10 children? While I can never know the answer, my job has given me some reliable insight; it would probably be really tough.

Continued at source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/25/when-a-woman-can-control-when-she-has-children-she-can-control-her-future

24.11.2017

Marie Stopes International

Marie Stopes International Australia

Australia: Cory Bernardi’s provocative motions on abortion divide Coalition

Cory Bernardi's provocative motions on abortion divide Coalition

Katharine Murphy
Thursday 16 November

The Australian Conservatives senator Cory Bernardi has triggered messy Coalition divisions on the floor of the Senate, with some government frontbenchers voting in favour of a motion opposing Medicare funding for the termination of pregnancies on gender grounds.

Bernardi proposed a series of provocative motions on Thursday morning covering abortion funding, greater scrutiny of the activist group GetUp and White Ribbon Australia’s support for abortion, including late-term terminations – which had Coalition figures cantering across the chamber.

Continued at source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/16/cory-bernardis-provocative-motions-on-abortion-divide-coalition

16.11.2017