June 14, 2026
Prudence Flowers
Earlier this month, One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce addressed a rally on the steps of New South Wales parliament. In emotive terms, he praised an anti-abortion bill about sex-selective abortion, legislation opposed by health experts.
Joyce’s speech is notable as a cut and paste of US culture war strategies, and for what it reveals about One Nation’s evolving, populist far-right agenda.
CitizenGo is hitching its wagon to Joanna Howe’s crusade, and the former Nationals MP George Christensen is on board
Tory Shepherd
Thu 11 Jun 2026
Among the hand-drawn signs warning of the “evil” of abortion at last week’s Sydney rally were some more professional placards. “The greatest liberty is the right to life,” the blue-and-white posters read, under a small logo for CitizenGo.
CitizenGo will not be a familiar name to many in Australia but in Europe it looms large in the anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+ rights world. An offshoot of the ultra-conservative Spanish group HazteOír (Make Yourself Heard), it was founded in Spain in 2013 and claims to have 20 million members across 50 countries.
Support for Pauline Hanson’s populist party has given fresh impetus to a loose network of activists trying to chip away at reproductive rights
Tory Shepherd
Mon 1 Jun 2026
The headline act at a Sydney anti-abortion rally being held on Tuesday in support of Libertarian MP John Ruddick’s bill to restrict abortion will not be Ruddick.
It will be the One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce. Joyce left the Nationals last year, not long after he was rebuked for his statements about abortion.
The dramatic rise in the polls of his new party has given fresh impetus to a loose network of anti-abortion groups trying to chip away at reproductive rights.
Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/01/one-nation-rise-anti-abortion-groups-australia-ntwnfb
Anti-abortion activist concedes pictures of human foetuses may have been sugar glider joeys
Joanna Howe posts on social media that if purported images of human foetuses are in fact sugar gliders, ‘it doesn’t actually matter’
Tory Shepherd
Thu 28 May 2026
The anti-abortion activist Joanna Howe has conceded she may have used a “scam” email featuring a picture of sugar glider joeys, referring to them as human foetuses, to promote her views – but it “was an insignificant detail”.
In a video posted to Facebook on Wednesday afternoon, Howe said it appeared she had been “scammed” when someone emailed her claiming to give details about their medical abortion, including an image that Howe referred to as twin girls she called Ruth and Emma.
Joanna Howe says the image was sent to her by a woman ashamed of her abortion, and used it to support ‘rally for Emma and Ruth’ in favour of NSW bill
Tory Shepherd
Tue 26 May 2026
An image posted by anti-abortion activist Joanna Howe claiming to show aborted twin girls called “Ruth and Emma” appears to be a picture of newborn sugar gliders.
The two little pink bodies are displayed on a clean white background and experts say the image does not look at all like the product of an abortion.
Analysis from a digital forensics expert, commissioned by Guardian Australia, found the image was most likely a sugar glider joey (Petaurus breviceps), or possibly another marsupial such as an opossum.
By Thomas Kelsall and Kathryn Bermingham
May 20, 2026
South Australia's parliament is set to debate restrictions on late-term abortion for the third time in less than two years.
Anti-abortion campaigners are hopeful the newly elected upper house, comprised of three new One Nation members, will pass the legislation.
Upper house MLC Sarah Game, formerly of One Nation and now an independent, introduced legislation on Wednesday to place new limits on abortions after 25 weeks.
Nigel Dalton says he sought to redeem himself ‘in the eyes of God’ by crossing the floor in an attempt to overturn the LNP’s abortion debate gag order
Andrew Messenger
Thu 12 Feb 2026
The rebel Liberal National party Queensland MP Nigel Dalton, who earlier this week defied the state’s premier, David Crisafulli, over the abortion law debate, has encouraged others “to put on the full armour of God” and speak out on the issue.
In an interview posted on YouTube, Dalton told the anti-abortion activist Joanna Howe his “history with anti-abortion has been probably 30-odd years in the making”.
Photograph, first published by anti-abortion campaigner Joanna Howe, purportedly taken at Townsville hospital
Tony Shepherd
Mon 9 Feb 2026
Authorities are trying to have the image removed from social media, while the Townsville Hospital and Health Service (THHS) is investigating how it was taken and shared.
Anti-abortion activist Joanna Howe first published the photo.
She claims that after a woman at Townsville hospital had an abortion, a “whistleblower” took the photo in a room for grieving parents at the hospital and leaked it to her.
Joanna Howe says a ‘whistleblower’ sent her the image, which she says was taken inside the hospital’s room for grieving parents
Tory Shepherd
Thu 5 Feb 2026
Townsville hospital is investigating an alleged privacy breach after anti-abortion activist Joanna Howe said a “whistleblower” had sent her an image containing distressing and sensitive abortion content.
Howe posted a video on social media that included a picture of a 16-week-old foetus that she said was taken inside the hospital’s Butterfly Room, a place for grieving parents, saying “Samuel” was “born alive” after an abortion.
No evidence was given to support that claim and Howe has been contacted for comment. Multiple health experts have previously said claims by anti-abortion activists that large numbers of babies are “born alive” after abortions are misleading, including in evidence to a state and federal parliamentary inquiry.
The university, which employs Howe as a law professor, states that it ‘considers each matter on its merits’
Tory Shepherd
Thu 27 Nov 2025
A prominent anti-abortion campaigner, who was banned from the South Australian parliament and accused of bullying, claims her employer has granted her immunity from complaints from anyone who is pro-choice.
Anti-abortion activist Joanna Howe, who has pledged to make abortion “unthinkable”, says the University of Adelaide, which employs her as a law professor, has agreed that those with ideologically opposed viewpoints to hers will be deemed “vexatious”, and any complaints they make about her will not be acted upon.
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