Page 2374 - Week 07 - Thursday, 4 August 2022

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(c) for generations the feminist movement has fought hard to have the right to bodily autonomy enshrined in law; and

(d) a threat to this right is an undoing of generations of struggle for gender equality and a woman’s right to choose;

(2) notes:

(a) following the United States of America Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization finding that there is no constitutional right to abortion, overruling the 1973 Roe v Wade decision, people around the world have felt the personal impact of this ruling to strip away rights that generations before them had fought for;

(b) in the ACT a local solidarity protest was held in support of people impacted by the United States Supreme Court decision;

(c) in the ACT there has long been an agenda led by the ACT Labor Government to ensure abortion is decriminalised, and no one is subjected to abuse or discrimination when accessing an abortion;

(d) abortion was decriminalised in the ACT in 2002;

(e) exclusion zones preventing anti-abortion protesters from engaging in prohibited behaviour, such as protests, outside clinics in the ACT were introduced in 2016 to prevent patients from being harassed and intimidated;

(f) different definitions for medical and surgical abortions were legislated from 1 July 2019, to improve accessibility of abortions by allowing specially trained general practitioners and telehealth services to prescribe medical abortion medications, and specially trained pharmacists to dispense these medications;

(g) the ACT Government expanded access and provided more choice to people seeking abortion services through the Health (Improving Abortion Access) Amendment Act 2018; and

(h) the 2022-23 ACT Budget will continue the ACT Government’s commitment to increasing accessibility by investing $4.6 million over four years to remove out-of-pocket costs of abortion services, improving abortion affordability and access for both medical and surgical abortions. The provision of Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives following an abortion will also be funded, as well as a communications package to improve accessibility of abortion services for people in the ACT; and

(3) states the following as a joint message and call for support:

(a) strong solidarity with women and people impacted by the United States Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade;

(b) acknowledges that the discrimination and injustice felt by women and people in the United States is felt globally; and

(c) upholds hope that change can happen, rights to abortion can be upheld and fundamental human rights protected

Safe and accessible abortion is a fundamental reproductive and human right. This motion that I am moving today is about recognising the unjust and unbelievable impact of the recent decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in overturning Roe v Wade.

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