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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 9 Hansard (21 August) . . Page.. 2589 ..
10 Abortion must not be performed without consent
(1) A person shall not perform an abortion on a woman unless her consent has been obtained in writing, stating the date and time, at a time not less than 72 hours after making a declaration under section 9.Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units.
(2) Nothing in this section affects a consent given, or taken to be given, on behalf of the woman by a person with authority to do so in circumstances where the woman is unable to give consent herself.
Those are very well thought-out sections. Someone over the other side pooh-poohed Mr Humphries for mentioning that you have 10 days to decide whether to buy a vacuum cleaner or not. In the ACT you have an indefinite period to decide whether you want to enter a contract to buy a house or not. In New South Wales there is a statutory five-day cooling-off period. In other areas of the law there are many instances of cooling-off periods.
Those opposite, in opposition and now in government, have mouthed platitudes-but good ones-about the need to give people information, to provide open government, to keep the community informed, to make sure that people have all the relevant material to make informed decisions.
It is completely inconsistent, and indeed hypocritical, to now say, "We do not want the Health Regulation (Maternal Health Information) Act. It is patronising. Women can make up their own minds." Of course they will. Why in this one area are you going to repeal an act which provides for information on a number of issues both ways, on risks and on issues relevant to a decision that is far more important than a decision to buy a vacuum cleaner or even a house?
It is illogical that this information should not be given. Maybe it influences people; maybe it does not. I am concerned about reports such as the one I read out earlier today.
Mr Berry: You do not have to read that again.
MR STEFANIAK: I am not going to read it again. I have already done so. Katherine Smith, which is not her name, made a very powerful statement. She felt pressured into having an abortion. If you are pro-choice, if you genuinely believe that it is very much a matter for the woman concerned, why would you want someone pressured? Why would you not want to enable that person to receive information, not only on the medical risks of termination of pregnancy, to take section 8 (1) (a) (i) as an example, but also on the medical risks of carrying a pregnancy to term? I find that completely inconsistent and somewhat hypocritical.
I think we will be very much the worse if this act is repealed, which it seems, on the numbers, it will be. This is a sad day. Mr Berry has won his argument. He has decriminalised abortion. Mr Osborne's bill was drafted by not just one person-it was not just the Osborne bill-but a number of people. It was debated at length, as thing usually are, in the Assembly, with amendments made on the day. It looks like it is now going to be repealed.
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