Huge ‘significant day’ for hundreds of thousands of Australian women as new laws come into effect
- Abortions are decriminalized in Western Australia
- It aligns state laws with most of Australia
- Women up to 23 weeks pregnant can refer themselves to the clinic
Major reforms to the abortion law will be proposed in the Western Australian parliament this week in what has been touted as a “historic moment for women” in the state.
The Cook government’s proposed reforms to the outdated laws will bring it into line with most other Australian jurisdictions, fully decriminalizing abortion.
Prime Minister Roger Cook said the overturning of the Roe v Wade decision in the US has brought the issue “in sharp focus”, with abortion still included in WA’s Penal Code.
“[Our]laws have now fallen far behind community expectations and best practices for public health processes,” he said.
Women’s Affairs Minister Sue Ellery said she was “confident” that the bill, due to be tabled in parliament on Wednesday, will pass.
“We will conduct the debate with respect and there will be some who strongly oppose the bill,” she said.
“They’ll be able to voice their opinions… and scrutinize the bill.”
Western Australia plans to amend their abortion laws to bring them into line with most other Australian jurisdictions, decriminalizing abortion completely
WA’s abortion laws, which have remained unchanged for 25 years, require those seeking an abortion to have a GP referral and undergo mandatory counseling.
Instead, pregnant women can self-refer to a clinic or doctor up to 23 weeks.
While these referral and advisory requirements will be removed under the proposed legislation, so will the requirement that abortions longer than 20 weeks be approved by two doctors.
Currently, in such cases, both practitioners must be members of a statutory panel appointed by the Minister of Health.
Health Secretary Amber-Jade Sanderson said such situations occurred in only 1 percent of abortion cases and that the bill would remove “clinically unnecessary barriers” for women.
“Most of them are planned and wanted pregnancies who just got a devastating diagnosis at the 19 or 20 week scan, and the clock is ticking for them to make one of the hardest decisions they’ll ever have to make,” she said. said.
The amendments include abortion in the Public Health Act 2016 which Ms Sanderson said would provide ‘more certainty for clinicians… and for the women too’.
Prime Minister Roger Cook said the overturning of the Roe v Wade decision in the US has brought the issue ‘in sharp focus’, with abortion still included in WA’s Penal Code
Under the proposed changes, for abortions after 23 weeks, doctors must see another doctor, and both must be satisfied that the circumstances are right to perform an abortion.
Former Labor MP and renowned abortion rights advocate Cheryl Davenport led the decriminalization of abortion in 1998.
On Wednesday, she said the proposed legislation would give more women access to safe medical procedures, as women in WA have so far “relied on only two clinics.”
“It will give us the opportunity to have more clinics… in both the private and public sectors,” she said.
“It will give access to lower socioeconomic women and First Nations women who are now having a very hard time getting to the eastern states when they actually have to pay for late stage termination.”
The proposed changes follow extensive consultation with clinicians and more than 17,500 community members.
The survey showed that the majority of respondents agreed with the proposed changes.
Ms Sanderson presented the bill, which will be subject to a vote of conscience, to parliament on Wednesday.