NSW bid to decriminalise abortion defeated in State Parliament

ABORTION will remain a crime in NSW after MPs voted down a Greens bill aimed at overturning the 100-year-old law.

ABORTION will remain a crime in NSW after MPs voted down a Greens bill aimed at overturning the 100-year-old law.

Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi’s Abortion Law Reform Bill was defeated 25 to 14 in the State Parliament’s upper house on Thursday.

Public members in the gallery shouted “shame” as the result of the conscience vote was announced in the Legislative Council.

Supporters and opponents of the bill gathered outside NSW parliament with placards as MPs arrived on Thursday morning to debate the bill and cast a conscience vote.

Ms Faruqi last year introduced the bill to remove abortion from the Crimes Act, and bring the state’s laws covering terminations in line with those in Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT.

NSW and Queensland are the only states in Australia where abortion is illegal. The bill also outlines plans to introduce 150-metre exclusion zones around abortion clinics and service providers to protect women against harassment, abuse and intimidation by abortion opponents.

Protesters gather outside the NSW State Parliament building in Sydney. Picture: AAP

“I’m hoping that the MPs get behind this change, which is backed by doctors, by lawyers, massively by the community,” she told reporters outside parliament. “If the bill does get passed, it will mean that women will be able to access a health procedure easily and without the danger of criminality hanging over their heads.” The state’s medical board agrees the law needs to be reviewed but is cautious about the Greens’ bill.

“We agree it is time to review the law in NSW and therefore recommend that the matter should be referred to the Law Reform Commission for serious consideration, if progress is to be made,” AMA (NSW) president, Prof Brad Frankum said in a statement.

GetUp campaigns director Emily Mulligan said there is already a stigma involved in what is a “personal” and “intimate” procedure without women being considered criminals for their decision.

“If this bill doesn’t pass, it means the people inside that building are saying that women’s bodies are up for debate, and that’s just not good enough,” Ms Mulligan said.

Dr Catherine Lennon, from Abortion Rethink, said the bill “forces medical practitioners to refer to an abortion provider ... or threatens them with professional misconduct”.

“So doctors like me, who don’t support abortion up to birth, are considered criminals. And that is so wrong,” she said.

The Sydney GP said the “extreme” bill also “legalises abortion up to birth for any reason” including sex selection.

“At the moment, under current law, it’s uncommon to have late abortions,” Dr Lennon said.

“This (bill) will result in an increased number of late abortions.”

But Ms Feruqi said suggestions a woman would carry a pregnancy to full term and then seek a termination “are extremely offensive”.

Protesters wait on the outcome of the vote. Picture: AAP