Children by Choice CEO Jill McKay disappointed by proposed change to SA state abortion laws

ABC NEWS (Australia)

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.

Transcript

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?

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