Bill passes lower house: Labor MP admits she would have had an abortion
The NSW abortion bill passed the lower house 59 votes to 31 late last night, after a stunning debate in which a Labor MP admitted she would have aborted her two children had shown they would be affected by a disorder she lives with.
Independent MP Alex Greenwich has belittled a failed amendment that would have prevented gender selective terminations after legislation to decriminalise abortion passed the lower house last night.
Speaking this morning after the historic vote, which passed the lower house 59 votes to 31, Mr Greenwich slammed the “hostile” motion as “poorly drafted” and said it was moved “with no intention of passing”.
The bruising debate for Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who now faces a ministry bitterly divided on the issue, ended with some MPs cheering the passage of the bill just after 11pm.
Labor MP Jenny Aitchison, who suffers a genetic disorder, broke down as she admitted she would have had an abortion had she known it would affect her children.
“I can tell you — I bloody wish I knew. I love my daughter so much, I love my son so much but if I knew when I was pregnant that if there was a chance I would have to put them through the last 10 years of my life, I would have had an abortion straight away because I love them and I know the pain I have gone through of dealing with that,” she said.
“I have woken up on days and wondered what is the point of my life because I could be dead soon? That is the reality when you have a genetic condition you know could kill you.”
The vote took place minutes after former women’s minister Tanya Davies told parliament 300 girls were “missing” in Victoria after similar legislation was adopted there.
Her proposed amendment to explicitly rule out gender selection was defeated, with MPs instead supporting an amendment which expressed disapproval of the practice.
The legislation, which now moves to the upper house, will also be reviewed in 12 months to determine whether more foetuses of a particular gender are being terminated.
Mr Greenwich said Ms Davies’ amendment did not factor in “what could happen with a gender specific hereditary disease” such as haemophilia.
“It was quite clear by the drafting of this amendments that it was it was not actually seeking to achieve an outcome, just rather be hostile to the process that we were debating,” he said.
“However, the parliament did acknowledge that this was a concern … the legislation will have a 12 month review into this issue.”
Mr Greenwich also denied that he cut a deal on the legislation with Ms Berejiklian prior to the state election in March, when she faced minority government.
He said MPs “cannot do deals on issues of conscience”.
“That is an absolute, emphatic no,” he said.
Asked when he first approached Coalition MPs about abortion, which some say has been “rushed” through parliament, Mr Greenwich said he had approached “various members” over the last seven years.
“The first time in which the members were distributed a copy of the Bill … was about 10 to 12 days ago,” he said.
“We sent it to them as soon as it was drafted.”
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said in a statement that he was “concerned at some misinformed commentary that seeks to overshadow the intention of the (Bill), which was to put terminations into a medical and health framework instead of the Crimes Act”.
“There was debate about gender selection, including that there are some inherited medical conditions that are gender-specific,” he said.
“My National Party colleague, the Member for Port Macquarie, Leslie Williams moved that NSW would seek to get the facts, with a review.”
“The House was unanimous its opposition to terminations being performed for the purpose of gender selection.”
Ms Davies pointed to a recent study from La Trobe University in Melbourne which she said showed “sound evidence of distorted sex ratios in births in Victoria for the children of mothers born in China and India”.
“In fact there are over 300 missing girls in Victoria due to sex selection before birth in the Indian, Chinese and South East Asian migrant communities between 2011 and 2015,” Ms Davies said.
“In that five-year period, which I note was after Victoria’s abortion law reform was in place, there were on average 37 girls each year missing from Indian born mothers and 24 girls each year missing from Chinese born mothers.”
Ms Davies said the research pointed to “abortion following the identification by ultrasound of the sex of the unborn child as female as the primary mechanism by which the cultural preference for a male child is given effect. If one little girl, a toddler, were to go missing today … we would mobilise all our resources and try to desperately find her”.
“In the absence of any explicit prohibition of gender selection abortion in this bill, such gender selection abortion will, as it has in Victoria, occur here in NSW.”
One member yelled “disgusting” as she moved the amendment.
Nationals MP Leslie Williams said the amendment could have a “very dangerous effect” of “opening the doors to discrimination and profiling of women of colour based purely on negative stereotypes about their communities”.
Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services Gareth Ward, who lives with albinism, said he felt “incredibly emotional” about the abortion debate.
“The prospect of designer children should appal every member of the house,” he said.
Mr opposed Ms Davies’ amendment, saying he had not been made aware of any evidence of terminations on the basis of gender in NSW.
Attorney-General Mark Speakman opposed Ms Davies’ amendment over a lack of detail, but said it was something he would like to see addressed in legislation.
“She raises an entirely legitimate and grave concern about sex selection,” he said.
“This is an incredibly important issue … it’s something I want to see addressed.”
Mr Hazzard faced serious questions about whether he had misled parliament during the debate on the gender selection issue.
He said late term abortions could be carried out for “clinical” reasons only.
Mr Speakman, who proposed a series of amendments to the legislation, told Sky News a woman could choose “abortion below 22 weeks for any reason”.
Ms Berejiklian, who has faced criticism for failing to explain why she was supporting the legislation originally moved by independent MP Alex Greenwich, which would allow for abortions for “social” reasons, now faces attempts to reunite her Cabinet amid bitter divisions.
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