Page 3842 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 19 September 2018
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Across the globe it has been happening for years, but in the ACT that is not quite the case, which is why I support this bill today.
I feel that after the great work we have done in the ACT over many years to extend safe and legal abortion services to women and to protect their decisions and choices from harassment, it is unfortunate that it remains illegal for GPs to provide medical abortion.
I want to reiterate that Labor will always be the ones who will keep trying to ensure that our services are provided equitably and appropriately. We know that when we do not keep our hand on the throttle and our eye on the game, we can risk going backwards. It is a fact. We see it in many areas of policy reform, such as gender equality and, in particular, the gender pay gap. We might make a small leap one year and celebrate our success, but then we lose momentum and get on with other things, and before we know it we have slipped backwards.
It is acknowledged that the ACT has demand for GP-prescribed abortion, because ACT patients are travelling to New South Wales to get it. Ironically, abortion remains in the New South Wales criminal code.
This bill is about ensuring that people who need medical treatment do not experience unnecessary barriers. Medical abortion in the ACT has been unnecessarily expensive for too long. We do not need to keep costs on health care prohibitively high.
It has been established in this place that there are many varying views on abortion. Some members of our community will ask if the ACT government is trying to make it easier to get an abortion. The answer is yes. But it is not because the ACT government believes that unplanned pregnancy is a good thing or that accessing an abortion is a casual thing; it is about saying that every patient is deserving of treatment. Communities do not need to punish patients for trying to access health care. We do not need to make their lives more difficult.
To imply that the government should implement barriers to access abortion neglects the research coming out of universities and clinics about who accesses abortions and why. There are many different reasons for patients to access an abortion. Some are experiencing the loss of a planned, wanted pregnancy. Some are experiencing the precariousness of an unplanned, unwanted pregnancy. The fact remains that some people in the ACT still cannot access the care that they require because of the circumstances surrounding their family or their finances.
There are instances in which many of us who would typically disagree on this issue may agree, examples where decisions seem clear cut. But we are not doctors, and it is not the business of government or the community to individually assess which individuals or families are deserving of treatment. It is not our role to dictate which people in our society get to freely choose their medical treatment and which must experience further distress, financial hardship or scrutiny to get health care and self-determination.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video