Children by Choice CEO Jill McKay disappointed by proposed change to SA state abortion laws
The upper house of South Australia is expected to vote later today on a bill that would require women seeking an abortion past 27 weeks and six days to deliver the baby alive. Abortion has also become a key issue in the Queensland election. Jill McKay is the CEO of children by choice. She says it's disappointing to see the abortion rights back up for debate.
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00:00Obviously, it's incredibly distressing for women across Australia and particularly in
00:05Queensland to see that just nearly six years as of tomorrow, since abortion was decriminalised
00:13in Queensland and that we're moving to very clearly abortion is healthcare, that we're
00:18seeing these attacks come towards women in Australia, allowing them not to be able to
00:23make their own bodily choices or the safety of choice with their own bodies, with their
00:29health practitioner and with their loved ones.
00:33So why is abortion back under discussion, do you think?
00:36Not really sure.
00:37Like in the Queensland context, we've had really strong movement around improving access
00:43to termination of pregnancy with Queensland Health.
00:45They have a really active termination of pregnancy action plan because even post decriminalisation
00:52in every state, getting access has been challenging.
00:56So we've been in a really fortunate position where we have active improvements to be able
01:00to improve essential healthcare for women.
01:04Certainly we've heard really loud and clear in the Queensland context that there is no
01:09plan for termination of pregnancy and access to services to change in Queensland.
01:15What we have heard though, is that Robbie Cadder last week said really clearly that
01:21if he was given the opportunity, he would then seek to criminalise abortion again by
01:28repealing the Termination of Pregnancy Act.
01:31That of course is incredibly frightening for Queensland women.
01:36As we know, that it is all likely, we all read, women are clever, people are clever
01:41in Queensland.
01:42We read the news, we can read the polls and it looks like it'll be an LNP government.
01:47One of those things behind that is that we haven't heard about how a conscience vote
01:53might go about.
01:55So that puts us at real risk and a real concern around whether women's right to choose and
02:01pregnant people's right to be able to make decisions around their own body, how that
02:06legislation is going to be protected.
02:10Abortion is certainly an election issue in the US, isn't it?
02:13Does that give an oxygen to the debate here, do you think?
02:19Children by choice, we're not a political party or whatever else, but absolutely when
02:23we look across at what's happening in the US, we're absolutely frightened to see that
02:27women have died and do die.
02:31The World Health Organisation is very clear that abortion is healthcare and it remains
02:36as healthcare as part of our healthy system of women's health and sexual and reproductive
02:42health around the country, regardless of which jurisdiction you are.
02:46Whenever we seek to criminalise or reduce access to abortion, what we see is that women
02:52lose their lives as we do in the US.
02:55So our healthcare professionals in Queensland in particular, we get to work with them so
02:59often, are such dedicated professionals who support women and pregnant people every day
03:05around their healthcare choices.
03:07What we've seen in the US, for example, is some confusion with healthcare professionals
03:11about when and how they provide healthcare support.
03:14And those women have died from lack of treatment.
03:18Just finally then, Jill, these two states in Australia have very different histories
03:22on abortion, don't they?
03:23South Australia was the first Australian jurisdiction to legalise abortion.
03:27That was 50 years ago, 1969.
03:30Queensland only changed the law in 2018.
03:33Not that long ago.
03:34No, not that very long ago, 2018.
03:37Like I said, tomorrow we'll be celebrating six years of decriminalisation in Queensland
03:41and we are seeing such a change for Queensland women to be able, and it's a real symbol as
03:46well, that women are able to look after their own bodies, to make choices for themselves.
03:53And without the right to be able to choose, it kind of then sets this kind of tone around,
03:58what else do you not want women to be, that you don't trust women to be in control of?
04:02So I kind of think about it, and I know that there are so many women and pregnant people
04:07out there who are saying, can you just, politics, can you keep your hands off my body?
04:12Can you just allow us to continue to make really safe healthcare decisions with our
04:18healthcare professionals?