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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 9 Hansard (21 August) . . Page.. 2512 ..

MR WOOD (continuing):

A likely outcome of the successful passage of this bill would be more abortions. Does anyone here argue that that would be desirable? Let us value life. In doing so, let us reject a mechanistic view that there is always a solution, that we don't have to accept the responsibility for our actions. There are many circumstances when an abortion is necessary. My argument is that we should reject this bill and now move to examine the measures and the programs, and have the debate that will take us in the direction where those necessary abortions are the ones that are undertaken.

Finally, this old bloke standing here has the right and the duty to speak and to vote on this issue. It is not one for women alone. This is about life. It becomes an issue for people to determine what kind of society they wish to have. All people should speak about it, especially legislators.

MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Members, before I call Ms Tucker, I would like to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of two members and the secretary of the Regulation Review Committee of the New South Wales parliament, led by its chair, Mr Gerard Martin. Welcome to the ACT Assembly.

MS TUCKER (11.34): Mr Deputy Speaker, the debate about abortion is obviously complex and positions are often deeply felt. However, neither this bill, nor any other bill, will stop abortions being wanted, or carried out.

What these bills do is make abortions safer, less fraught with guilt, blame and harassment-and remove a possible criminal sanction. The anti-choice arguments around abortion legislation-and certainly around these bills-quickly seem to lose sight of this. It becomes an argument about why abortions should never happen, and that is just not an option. Abortion is a last-stop option for women to have some control over their own fertility. It is the last-stop option for a woman who is pregnant and who, for personal reasons, is not in a position to bring a child into the world.

Responsibility in parenthood is still one of the fundamental differences between the roles of men and women in life. Whatever view you hold on that point-whether you believe that women must be primary caregivers, for whatever period of time, or you are working hard to shift attitudes and systems so that, increasingly, parenting is genuinely a shared responsibility-at this point in time, the responsibilities of parenthood have, on the whole, a much greater impact on women than on men.

Decriminalisation is one aspect of access to abortion. It is fairly easily understood-that a woman should not be named a criminal for seeking an abortion-and neither should the medical practitioner who, at her request, carries out the operation.

The prospect of 10 years in jail does nothing to support women, and does nothing to reduce the incidence of unwanted pregnancies. Mrs Dunne's proposal to reduce the criminal penalty to one month misses the point-it is still criminalising abortion.

There are people who believe that abortion is a sin and should, therefore, be a crime. There are people who believe that becoming pregnant means coming into contact with a spirit. Some believe that that spirit will understand if you truly cannot become its parent now, and will come back into your life in the future. That understanding and various spiritual beliefs-the questions of where personhood begins and when life

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