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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 10 Hansard (25 November) . . Page.. 2881 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

Mr Speaker, I believe that we should pass this Bill as a step towards protecting the rights of all human beings to their own life. Indeed, Mr Speaker, the Government of New Zealand has accepted its responsibility as a government to present a balanced parcel of information to those who are considering abortion. The New Zealand Department of Health published in September this year a pamphlet that presents a far greater range of options to those considering an abortion in a non-judgmental way.

The New Zealand pamphlet canvasses all the options and in fact provides the sort of information this Bill seeks to provide. It has a section on the psychological side effects of having an abortion. It has a section on the development of the foetus. It contains a great deal more information than the pamphlets currently distributed by the ACT's abortion clinic or the Family Planning Association. Mr Speaker, it is about time that we in the ACT accepted our responsibility and presented a balanced view of the impact of abortion. Mr Speaker, I will table a copy of this pamphlet. There are enough copies there for each member to have one.

I believe that we should pass this Bill as a step towards protecting the rights of all human beings to their own life. On a more cynical ground, you could say that we should pass this Bill because it will protect doctors and health care staff in the ACT as well as the ACT Government itself from liability due to negligence.

Mr Speaker, I refer to the case of a woman named Ellen. Ellen is a Victorian woman who was pregnant. She underwent an abortion and claims that she was never informed by either the gynaecologist or the hospital where the abortion was performed of the consequences. Ellen suffered severe depression and post-abortion syndrome and took legal action against the Royal Women's Hospital and the gynaecologist who performed the abortion. The Royal Women's Hospital and the gynaecologist have agreed to pay her undisclosed damages mainly for allegedly not warning her that abortion could cause her psychological harm. This is apparently the first such case in Victoria and could trigger several claims. Several counsellors say it is about time. Ellen's case indicates that abortion can plunge unsuspecting women into an ocean of grief. "Nobody wanted to believe this", says Anne Lastman, a Glen Waverley counsellor and founder of Women Hurt by Abortion. Ellen's case is disturbing because in many ways it is so ordinary.

The provisions of Mr Osborne's Bill will at least go some of the way to protecting doctors and all those involved in health care positions, as well as this Government, from possible exposure, but for me, more importantly, it may save a human life. I think we should pass this Bill for more positive ideals rather than just protecting governments and doctors. I think we should pass this Bill for the health and wellbeing of all the unborn and for all women.

Mr Speaker, there is a growing body of information that tells us, as in the case of Ellen, that there are many downsides to abortion. Women are not currently being warned about some of these downsides. I am sure all members here have been flooded with the sort of information that I have. I will take the opportunity to quote some of the reports that have come to me that would indicate that we as a city, we as a nation and we as a world do not take this seriously enough. For instance, a recent study in the British Medical Journal found that women who abort are six times more likely to die from suicide than women

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