An abortion bill stripped of contentious provisions to force hospitals to carry out terminations, and make conscientious objector doctors formally refer patients for abortions, has passed the NSW parliament.
“Faith leaders, advocacy groups and Freedom for Faith have all been working with the Government and Opposition MPs to inform individual votes and to shape party culture,” Mike Southon Executive Director of Freedom for Faith wrote to supporters. “We were assured that the parts of the bill that impinged on religious freedom would not pass.
“Last Thursday, the bill was cut down by amendments from the Shooters Fishers and Farmers party, which were supported by the majority of Labor and Coalition MPs. These amendments removed all the religious freedom threats, leaving only the provision for nurse practitioners to provide early-term abortion pills.”
Threats
But despite the bill being “gutted” as Lyle Shelton of the Family First Party described it, threats against the major parties were made by Joanna Howe, convenor of a large rally outside parliament during the debate in the Upper House.
This has been detailed by the ABC’s Nick Dole: “[Opposition Leader] Mr Speakman singled out high-profile anti-abortion campaigner Joanna Howe over an email she sent him on Monday night.
“In the chamber, he read out what he said was an extract.
“‘Should Premier Minns vote for the bill and enable its passage, I will be leading a 20-month campaign across five marginal seats that are currently Labor-held, but are also in socially conservative electorates.’
“Mr Speakman said Dr Howe then “threatened” his leadership, leaving him in a state of “shock.” He continued reading from the email.
“‘If you choose to vote for the bill, I will be left with no other choice but to suspend my planned campaign against Labor, in order to lead a public campaign aimed at encouraging a grassroots opposition to you as Liberal leader.'”
The fiery rally run by Joanna Howe attracted religious leaders. It was attended by Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP, Melkite Bishop Robert Rabbat, and Maronite Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay, and all the Sydney Catholic bishops, the organisers promised amid large cheers that a “marginal seats campaign” would be run against Labor.
Even if some provisions of the bill were withdrawn, and if Labor members voted for whatever bill emerged, Joanna Howe promised to target Labor members in maginal seats. The contentious provisions that were removed from the bill resulted from lopsided votes, 24 to 16.
However, The Catholic Weekly coverage did not mention that pledge by Howe.
But will religious leaders, even Archbishop Fisher who led the rally in prayer, support Howe’s party political campaign?
The absence of Protestant church leaders at the rally was remarked on by some anti-abortion commenters. But in light of Howe proclaiming a party political marginal seats campaign would ensue, a possible reason for church leaders to be wary of attending the rally was revealed, as the threats to unseat polticians from Labor ramped up on the night.
Presenting the Christians opposed to many of the provisions in the original bill as signing on to the idea of campagning against the Labor Party would seem to be over-reach or even disingenuous.
Nurses and Midwives and medical abortion
The provision to widen abortion provision to nurses and midwives continued to attarct oppostion from Christians as the slimmed down bill reached the lower house.
Tanya Davies MP, the Liberal member for Badgerys Creek spoke against that prioposal. “In relation to drugs that medically induce abortion, a recent study reported an adverse event rate of over 10 per cent for women who access the abortion pill, with one in 20 requiring hospitalisation or a visit to an emergency department due to complications. Let that sink in. This is not simply a process of taking a pill for a headache; this is medication that induces a miscarriage. It is a serious matter. To redirect the provision of an abortion away from medical professionals is not in the interests of best health care for women. There is no indication that the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency will change its training requirements for endorsed midwives or nurse practitioners to reflect the new responsibility that the bill proposes.”
Minister for Women Jodie Harrison presnted the slimmed down bill as sensibe reform: “The bill in its current form represents modestly progressive but sensible reform. The bill was introduced in the other place in a different form by Greens member Dr Amanda Cohn. The amended bill before this House does not contain the provisions that concerned many who were following the debate. The bill makes no changes to conscientious objection. The bill does not compel local health districts to provide public abortion services. The bill does not scrap mandatory reporting requirements for medical practitioners. The core measure in the bill is to allow nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives to administer prescribed terminations for women up to nine weeks pregnant. That is not a radical concept. It is important to note that surgical terminations will remain off limits for nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives because such procedures are outside their scope of practice.”
A possible argument to support the bill extending prescribing rights to nurses and midwives, given that as in the United States, abortion pills by post is a real possibility, is that having trained professionals in the process will lessen the chances of things going wrong when a woman takes the pills. Opposition Leader Mark Speakman was probably right when he said the bill as amended would have little effect on the rate of abortions. But possibly sometimes when they occur they might be a little safer.
Image: last week’s abortion rally convened by Joanna Howe