00:00It was lauded as an historic day for the women of South Australia, but three years after
00:08State Parliament decriminalised abortion, one MP wants the laws changed.
00:13What my amendments hope to do is to balance the choice of the mother with the rights of
00:19the child.
00:20Ben Hood will introduce a private members bill to State Parliament on Wednesday that
00:25would require people who want to terminate their pregnancy after 28 weeks to be induced
00:30and deliver their baby alive.
00:32When that child is born alive it will receive neonatal care as premature deliveries do and
00:40then if it is the choice of the mother that baby will be put up for adoption.
00:44It is a world first, this is a win-win for the mother and the child because after 28
00:49weeks, instead of delivering a stillborn baby, the mother will deliver the child alive.
00:55But those who oppose the bill argue it would be a backwards step.
00:59Brigid Coombe from SA's Abortion Action Coalition says the current laws have already gone through
01:04rigorous scrutiny and debate.
01:06Those changes remove the basis of informed consent and they don't recognise at all the
01:12complexity of the circumstances that people are in when they are needing an abortion.
01:17In a statement, Opposition Leader Vincent Tarsier said the proposal was not Liberal
01:21Party policy and the bill would instead be a matter of conscience.
01:25We're six weeks into Vincent Tarsier's leadership and we've got a Liberal Party brawl that's
01:30happening internally over reforms that they initiated on abortion.
01:34This is something that has been worked on for a number of months, well before any leadership
01:38change within the Liberal Party.
01:39The last reforms passed Parliament in 2021 with the backing of several senior Liberal
01:44MPs, including former Attorney-General Vicky Chapman.
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