Page 3850 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 19 September 2018
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I also support the government amendments today, and I am very grateful that the Liberal Party gives me an opportunity to exercise my conscience vote on this issue. I believe that it demonstrates that the Liberal Party is representative of the broader community, because there are many people in the broader community who do not support abortion. And they should have that right as well, because it is a matter of choice.
I support women’s reproductive rights, as do a number of my colleagues. But we absolutely respect the views of other colleagues who may not share that view. I welcome the opportunity to support Ms Le Couteur’s bill and the government amendments today because it is very important that women in the ACT have safe and appropriate health care and health services when they need them in all aspects of their life.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (6.16), in reply: Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the time and commitment to this issue by Marcia Williams, CEO of the Women’s Centre for Health Matters; Tim Bavington, Executive Director of Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT; and the other representatives of these key community organisations who have joined us today to support this bill. Without them, we would not have nearly as good an understanding of people’s needs and the gaps that we need to address to ensure equitable outcomes not only for health but in relation to the implications that progressing an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy can have on social, emotional and financial wellbeing for individuals and families.
When I tabled this bill earlier in the year I said:
It is high time the ACT expanded access to safe and legal termination services, not in order to see them proliferate but to ensure that every child born in the ACT is a wanted child and that women … are empowered to make safe, timely and informed decisions about their own bodies, their future wellbeing and that of their families.
The purpose of this legislation is to improve access to medical terminations in the ACT, expanding availability to include GPs and telehealth providers. It is also the intention that this will have flow-on effects for the availability and affordability of what is a safe and legal medical procedure.
The bill does this by removing the requirement for medical abortions to take place in an approved facility in the ACT. There are currently two: the Marie Stopes clinic and Canberra Hospital. However, abortions are essentially limited to one provider, the Marie Stopes clinic, because, in practice, Canberra Hospital only provides abortions in cases of serious foetal abnormality or genetic conditions.
The bill also ensures that a doctor or nurse must not refuse to carry out or assist in carrying out an abortion in an emergency where a woman’s health is in danger. It ensures that a doctor or nurse must inform patients if they are exercising their right to conscientiously object. Given the time-critical nature of abortion, this accurate information is potentially very important to clients. The bill clarifies the Health Act to
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