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Report
Western Australian Parliament passes bill despite opposition of several MPs
ABC NEWS (Australia)
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9/21/2023
Western Australia’s parliament has passed the first major changes to the state's abortion laws in a quarter of a century.
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00:00
The government's really been selling these reforms about modernising the state's laws
00:05
and making it easier for women to access abortion, particularly in regional areas.
00:11
Some of the big changes are removing the need for two doctors to be involved in most abortions,
00:16
getting rid of the requirement for women to receive mandatory counselling, and changing
00:21
the point that more stringent conditions are imposed.
00:24
Currently that's at 20 weeks and it's been pushed out to 23 weeks.
00:30
The government says these are really about bringing the laws in line with other states.
00:35
WA was the first state to decriminalise abortion about a quarter of a century ago, but certain
00:41
concessions had to be made as part of that process to get the laws through Parliament
00:45
and they've persisted ever since.
00:48
So after some quite lengthy debate in Parliament, the laws have now passed and the Leader of
00:54
the Government in the Upper House, Sue Ellery, last night thanked both sides for the way
00:58
they've conducted themselves.
00:59
For the most part, the bill has been conducted respectfully and calmly, despite people's
01:07
very strong feelings about it.
01:09
This is fundamentally different to the way the debate was conducted in this place 25
01:13
years ago.
01:14
Liberal MP Nick Garan was really the other leading critic.
01:19
He spoke for some time last night as the bill passed, speaking about what he would have
01:25
liked to have seen.
01:26
He put forward a number of amendments which ultimately weren't successful because of Labor's
01:30
majority in both houses of Parliament.
01:34
One of the issues that he was particularly upset about, and in fact became visibly emotional
01:39
in the Chamber last night when he was speaking about it, was a change that would remove the
01:45
requirement for the coroner to investigate certain cases where a baby might live for
01:50
a very short period after being born after an abortion.
01:54
Here's a bit of what he had to say.
01:57
The bill attempts to make sure that the WA coroner never investigates these cases.
02:05
Unlike in New South Wales, unlike in the Northern Territory and unlike in every other jurisdiction,
02:10
this is darkness, clothing itself in darkness.
02:13
WA's health minister explained that this was being removed because it's seen as unnecessary
02:20
and traumatising by doctors and there's no need for it when these women undergo really
02:27
a lawful medical procedure and that it's part of that process.
02:31
So the laws have now passed Parliament.
02:34
The Government says there'll be about a six month period where they work out the finer
02:38
details and the implementation before these changes take effect for West Australian women.
02:44
[BLANK_AUDIO]
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