Page 2333 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 2 August 2017
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(6) calls on the Leader of the Opposition to clarify the Liberal Party position on a woman’s right to make her own health choices, including in respect of her reproductive and sexual health.
We make a lot of choices in our lives: what subjects to take at high school, what to study at university, where to live, whom to date, where to travel, where to work—the list goes on. We steer our own course in this life, and our choices are our rudder. Some choices will lead us to great things. Some choices will lead us to missed opportunities or regret. But whether our decisions turn out to be for better or for worse, it is absolutely critical that we have a choice. As sentient, autonomous individuals with our own stories, our own ambitions and our own beliefs, our freedom lies in our choices.
There are, of course, a few precursors for people being able to make meaningful choices. In particular, they need to be safe and healthy, and they need to have real options. Sadly, many women and girls everywhere are not in this position. That is why governments need to work hard and that is why the ACT Labor government has a history of working, and continues to work, to make change for women and girls. We are proudly progressive. We stand up for women and we will always stand up for women.
You do not have to look very hard to see the positive steps that the ACT Labor government has taken to promote the rights of women and girls. We have established the 10-year ACT women’s action plan. We are delivering on women’s health care and will carry out a $70 million expansion of the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children over the next four years. We have committed $2.5 million to women’s sport to create new sporting opportunities at all levels. We have established the women’s grants program, the Audrey Fagan grants program and return-to-work grants to support initiatives aimed at improving the safety, status and lives of women and girls in the ACT. We have committed $1 million to encourage women to take up a trade in non-traditional industries and we are providing support to grassroots initiatives aimed at increasing the number of women in STEM initiatives.
We want to help to create a community in which women and girls have real options so they can freely make the choices that will carve the story of their lives. We are especially lucky in the ACT that women already have the power to make one choice that can have a significant impact on our life course. It can affect our education, our career and our families. It is the choice whether, when and to whom we would like to have a child.
The Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights states that everyone has the right to access health care that culturally respects the patient, their beliefs, values and personal characteristics. This includes women and the choices that they make about their own body. It is estimated that between one-quarter and one-third of Australian women will decide to have an abortion in their lifetime. For some of these women it will be their first pregnancy; perhaps it is unplanned. For others, it might be that they do not wish to grow their family any further or their relationship circumstances may have changed.
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