Cairns pro-choice advocates celebrate decriminalisation of abortion
A CAIRNS-based pro-choice advocate has heralded the removal of abortion from the criminal code as a win for all Queensland women.
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A CAIRNS-based pro-choice advocate has heralded the removal of abortion from the criminal code as a win for all Queensland women.
Since 1971, Dr Caroline de Costa of the James Cook University College of Medicine has been campaigning for changes to the law and she was in Brisbane on Wednesday to hear Queensland MPs vote on the abortion law reform bill.
“I feel it is a win for women and their reproductive health care in Queensland and it’s a relief that at last we have got it,” she said.
Dr de Costa said changes to the law now opened the door to better training of both medical students and practising doctors. She hoped more GPs in Cairns would now offer non-surgical procedures.
“It will mean women will (carry) less shame and less stigma, they will have more knowledge about how to access it and they will, therefore, present earlier,” she said.
“I don’t think we are going to see an increase in the number of abortions but having an earlier abortion is safer for the woman both physically and emotionally.”
The cost for women presenting with unwanted pregnancies at less than nine weeks won’t change, the procedure is free at the Cairns Sexual Health Clinic, however, after nine weeks, Dr de Costa said she expected the cost of surgical procedures would fall.
“Private clinics have to charge because they provide a service and have responsibilities to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, but I think gradually we will see early medical abortions moving into being part of normal general practice,” she said.
“I think more GPs will be willing to do it if it’s no longer part of the criminal code.”
“But assessing a surgical abortion is much more difficult in Cairns at the moment.
“Many women are still travelling away from Cairns … if they have a medical reason that they can’t try the early medical abortion procedure or they are past nine weeks.”
Without having medical insurance, post nine-week terminations could be expensive, Dr de Costa said.
“We are hoping that we will be able to solve that problem in Cairns and provide a service that needs to be looked at,” she said.
Local GP and public clinic employee Dr Heather McNamee gave evidence at the public hearings into law reform in Cairns in September.
She stated there was a culture of contempt for women seeking abortions from some senior medical professionals within the local public healthcare system.
In the wake of decriminalisation Dr McNamee hoped that would change.
“Some of them are coming from a background of extreme prejudice and often quite extreme religious beliefs and they are not really open to logic,” she said.
“I hope the sensible ones will realise Queensland as a state has now spoken that abortion is a woman’s right and hopefully they will feel less empowered to try to obstruct the ability to access that right.”
She hoped women would feel more empowered to demand their right to abortion.
Queensland MPs voted 50-41 in favour of the Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2018 in a conscience vote in Brisbane on Wednesday night.
Leading the way
THE Cairns region has led the way in advocating for abortion law reform.
Dr Caroline de Costa single-handedly took on the Federal Government to overturn the ban of the drug RU-486. Former Member for Cairns Rob Pyne introduced a Private Members Bill against the criminalisation of abortion.
Dr Heather McNamee said Cairns had been central to the successful removal of abortion from the criminal code.
“We are only a small town but the committee visited us twice to get the opinions of people in Cairns,” she said.
The Cairns Sexual Health Service was the first public clinic in Queensland to offer medical terminations. It is based at Cairns North.
Originally published as Cairns pro-choice advocates celebrate decriminalisation of abortion
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