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With the introduction of a new Liberal government, the rights of ordinary people are under attack. The LNP won on the basis of a racist youth crime policy, and with most of party members being sexist bigots, it’s no surprise that the Liberals are already failing to defend abortion rights in Queensland.
The Queensland state election saw the issue of abortion dominate headlines in the last few weeks, thanks to the Katter Australia Party (KAP), who want to introduce a private members bill to reverse abortion rights. Leader of the right-winged conservative Christian party, Robbie Katter, has said that the number of conservative LNP members who are elected will determine how strong his bill is. One option they are considering is a ‘clean repeal’ of the 2018 Termination of Pregnancy Act.
Looking at the LNP’s track record of standing up for women, it’s clear that they’ll do little to nothing in order to defend the right to abortion. In 2018, 90% of LNP members voted against decriminalising abortion, including David Crisafulli, Queensland’s new Premier. When asked about abortion rights during his election campaign, Crisafulli said that it wasn’t part of their plan and routinely dodged any further questions on the matter. Most of the Liberal party is made up of anti-woman bigots, with members like Fiona Simpson – the new Minister for Women – who is anti-abortion, and a proud homophobe who bragged about supporting conversion therapy to state parliament in 2002, and former Senator – Amanda Stoker – who leads the anti-abortion “March for Life” each year in Brisbane. It is likely that Katter’s bill could go forth in parliament, and the fact that the party allows for a conscience vote on such matters all but confirms it.
The Labor Party also allows conscious voting on abortion rights, with five Labor MPs voting with the LNP in 2018 to make abortions harder to access. Three members voted for amendments to the bill to make abortions less accessible, one member voted to keep abortion a crime, and one member abstained and failed to support decriminalisation. Meanwhile, just recently in South Australia, two Labor MLCs voted in support of Liberal MLC Ben Hood’s extreme anti-abortion bill which would force women to give birth to an unwanted or unviable fetus, was just narrowly voted down 10 votes to 9.
The ALP are happy to continue to outsource public hospital funding to private hospitals and make billion-dollar deals with Catholic organisation – Mater – who refuse to perform abortions and contraception procedures. The new Mater public hospital in Springfield will have maternity and paediatric services, but will fail to offer full reproductive healthcare for women and pregnant people.
This is a real barrier to accessing abortions easily and freely. Women and pregnant people who live rurally or regionally may have to pay hundreds to thousands of dollars to get an abortion at a private clinic. Doctors are also allowed to conscientiously object to participating in abortion procedures, meaning women and pregnant people have to jump through even more hoops to access abortions.
We cannot rely on the major parties to defend abortion rights, and parliament should not be dictating what women and pregnant people can do with their bodies through conscious voting. Abortion is not a moral question, it is a human right, and to defend abortion rights we must fight back and mobilise against attacks from the Liberal and Katter parties.
In 1980, an anti-abortion bill was put forth to federal parliament, and in Queensland where abortion was banned under Premier Joh Bjelke-Peterson, anti-abortion groups pushed for the closing of Greenslopes Abortion Clinic. In response, hundreds to thousands defied protest bans and marched through Brisbane multiple times to defend abortion. MPs let the Premier know that they wouldn’t support the bill due to the widespread support, and it soon was defeated. In 1985, the Greenslopes clinic was raided, along with one in Townsville to force their shut down, but due to the mass support and rallies they continued to operate.
This outlines what kind of fightback is needed to keep abortion legal in Queensland. When there’s an attack on ordinary people’s rights, we cannot simply accept it and wait to vote the Liberals out in four years, we have to fight now. We need to demand that the government keeps abortion legal, to make abortions free and accessible to everyone, and to give no more funding to bigoted private providers.
On Friday the 1st of November, people came out and did exactly that. These demands and anger were taken to the streets where people chanted to “stand up, fight back” when abortion rights are under attack. The speakers explained that a Liberal government means more attacks on unions, attacks on public service, the environment, and – of course – Aboriginal rights. The LNP have committed that Aboriginal children will be charged as adults and put behind bars for as long as possible, with Premier David Crisifulli promising to make his “Adult Crime, Adult Time” policy into law by Christmas. Speakers made connections between these issues and pledged to fight on all fronts against an LNP government.
This rally of 500 angry young people was the beginning of that fightback.
Join NUS Queer again this Friday 8th November, at 6 pm in King George Square to rally to keep abortion legal!
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