Today on the ABC World Today, is a call by several obstreticians including Caroline, to decriminalize abortion around the country. I think it’s time for the Federal govt to explore having a referendum on this issue. It would comply with all the rules of a referendum being successful. They just need the guts to do it! There’s a real concern that women are importing certain drugs which taken incorrectly, could impair their health, perhaps threaten their lives due to an incomplete medical abortion. Sadly, history has shown in the past, that too many women ended up dead, infertile or suffered some other horrible outcome. I thought we’d left that era behind!

Wealthy women have always found a way to have an abortion, it’s only those who don’t have money who’ve had the problem. I, like many other women have heard horrific stories over this issue, and I’ve also heard, that in many cases, those who do the loudest complaining are frequently the ones, who on the quiet will contact a person from a women’s health centre, or a doctor etc who’ll be able to assist them in their ‘predicament’. I have great difficulty equating the rights of a few cells with that of the mother’s health; or she’s pregnant due to incest or rape, or is just poor and overwrought. As a woman who’s suffered a miscarriage at 14 weeks, traumatic as it was, there’s no comparison between that foetus and the live births I eventually was privileged to have - none whatsoever. Many years ago, I shared the labour ward with a very young woman who’d been sexually abused - she had an intellectual disability, and couldn’t understand what was happening to her. Her mother was with her too. It was one of the most traumatic and horrific experiences of my life - it went on for hours. Her labour was long and awful - the staff were also upset - we were unanimous in what we’d like to have done to the male concerned - there was nothing ‘christian’ about it I can assure you!
I often wonder what happened to this very young woman, and what happened to her child. With what I now know of forced adoptions of the 60’s; the horrors of some institutionalized kids being sexually and physically abused; those kids who are ‘unsuitable’ for adoption; the days of shame etc aimed at the pregnant woman, I certainly would’ve understood if abortion had been an option for this very young woman after 7 or so weeks into her pregnancy.

My heart goes out to the young woman in Queensland, and her partner. I’m disgusted by the violent retalliation they’ve had to endure - the culprits are probably ‘good christians’ too?

Anna Bligh: “I don’t believe it would - sorry, that a Bill to change it would necessarily get the support of the majority of parliament and I suspect that it may well, in its manifestation through the debate, get so amended that, in fact, the circumstances may, in fact, be worse for women at the end of that process because it would restrict it further and that’s always been my caution”

full transcript: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s2634705.htm