SHOULD THERE BE A GAOL SENTENCE FOR ABORTION – THE ANSWER IS NO!
4 June 2002
A small group of people gathered outside the ACT Legislative Assembly today to protest against Wayne Berry’s bills to decriminalise abortion in the ACT.
When Speaker Wayne Berry arrived he asked the question: -
“Which of you believes that a woman should go to gaol for 10 years if she has an abortion.”
No one said yes.
“Even ACT Right to Life supporters don’t believe that abortion should be a crime,” Mr Berry said.
But the official line of the Right to Life is quite different and is peppered with misinformation about mandatory cooling off periods, provision of information and compulsory viewing of foetal pictures which set out to punish women considering an abortion or those who have had one.
“I was heckled this morning by people who did not want to hear the truth. Each time I tried to clarify the full effect of my bills I was howled down,” Mr Berry said. “Of course the organisers of the rally wouldn’t like the truth out in the open so the best course for them was to prevent anyone at the gathering from hearing.
The facts are:
· The repeal of the Osborne law will ensure that abortion has the same protection as any other medical procedure – and with the Gallagher amendments these will be reaffirmed.
· The repeal of the Crimes Act 1900 provisions on abortion removes the potential for charges to be entertained under the Crimes Act – as happened in West Australia and Tasmania.
“No-one in this morning’s group would admit that they thought that abortion should be a crime or that there should be a 10 year gaol sentence. It’s about time anti-abortion fundamentalists faced the fact that they and these outdated laws are out of step with the community,” Mr Berry concluded.