Why the NSW abortion ruling is absolutely ridiculous

I WAS 22 when I had an abortion, and I’m beyond grateful that I could. So I’m devastated about today’s decision.

OPINION

TODAY, NSW Parliament had a chance to legalise abortion, but chose once again to limit the control women have over their own bodies.

Supporters outside the parliament were devastated, and many of those who couldn’t be there, including myself, took to social media to express their disappointment in the majority of their politicians.

The bill was a particularly important issue for me because when I was 22, I had an abortion.

I was in my final year of university, had a long term boyfriend, and a good job. But I wasn’t ready to have a child and I have never regretted my decision to have a termination when I was six weeks pregnant.

Looking at me, you wouldn’t know I’ve had an abortion. Just like you wouldn’t know for the one in three women in Australia who have a termination in their lifetimes.

And while writing publicly about my abortion has resulted in some trolling online, the majority of people are supportive of mine and my then partner’s decision to not have a child at that point in our lives.

Lauren Ingram pictured at 22, the age she had an abortion.

My anecdotal experience matches up with opinion polling data, which consistently shows that across Australia around 80 per cent of adults support legalising abortion.

Despite this, only three states across the country, the ACT, Victoria, and Tasmania, have decriminalised abortion and support a woman’s right to choose. The Northern Territory recently also decriminalised abortion, but the law will not come into effect until 1 July 2017.

Currently in NSW abortion is a crime, under a 100-year-old law which means that both pregnant women, and the doctors treating them, can be charged with procuring an illegal abortion and face 10 years in jail.

Abortion is only considered legal in the state if a woman can prove that a termination is required because pregnancy would have a serious impact on her physical or mental health, if the child has fetal defects, or if there are economic implications for the woman.

In practice this means that a woman’s right to an abortion is limited, and almost entirely based upon the opinion of her doctor. Even when a doctor supports their patient’s wish for a termination, the law means that they must adequately prove that the woman meets one of the requirements. This was put to the test in 2006, when Dr Suman Sood was convicted of performing an illegal abortion because it was determined she had not determined that her patient met one of the legal requirements.

Dr Mehreen Faruqi’s End12 bill, which she has been fighting for since 2015, hoped to prevent this from happening in the future, allowing all women to have bodily autonomy and seek safe abortions without having to jump through legal hoops.

And despite the majority of the public supporting the change, anti-choice advocates have been vocal about their opinions on the bill, using inflammatory language and playing on people’s misconceptions to try and block the bill.

Greens MP Dr Mehreen Faruqi has been fighting for years for legislation to decriminalise abortion in NSW. Today her bill was knocked back. Picture: AAP Image/Paul Miller

Many of the objectors, from Archbishop of Sydney Andrew Fisher to columnist Miranda Devine, have claimed that the bill would have allowed ‘abortion until the moment of birth’.

This is despite statistics showing that 94.6 per cent of abortions in Australia are performed before 12 weeks, and only 0.7 per cent after 22 weeks.

Abortions that happen after 22 weeks are generally to preserve the health of the pregnant woman, or because of fetal abnormalities that would result in the child dying at or shortly after birth.

And I’m not ashamed to say that if you think that we should live in a society where a woman should die because she doesn’t have access to safe and legal abortion, then you may not have a heart.

I’m 27 now. I could have a four year old child, and I am beyond grateful that I do not. If I did my life, my career, my relationships, would not resemble what they do now. I got to become who I am because of my abortion, because I was free to make a choice about my own body and not have it made for me by old men who would never have to experience the risks of pregnancy.

Lauren Ingram is glad for the life she’s had, due to not having a child at 22.

When I had an abortion I lived in Canberra, where the procedure was safe, legal, and the cost reasonable. I was lucky. But so many women in NSW are not given that same choice. They are not allowed to decide what their life should be like.

Instead that choice is in the hands of people who will never know these women or the struggles they have. That will, despite overwhelming public support, decide that they know better than women and their doctors. That will determine that woman cannot make choices for themselves and must be forced to have children.

In times like these I am often reminded of a quote from the television show Veep, where Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ character remarks that “If men got pregnant, you could get an abortion at an ATM”.

I can’t help but laugh at the truth in the statement, and then feel like weeping because it seems this will never change.

My heart breaks for all the women in NSW who will continue to struggle because of these outdated laws, risking their life and liberty to get a termination when it should be freely accessible.

The rejection of the End12 bill is a dark moment in the history of NSW and the state’s record on gender equality. My only hope is that abortion is decriminalised soon. I know I won’t stop fighting until it is.

Lauren Ingram is a freelance journalist and feminist who is passionate about women’s rights. She is the founder of the women’s travel site adventuressmag.com and tweets too much @laureningram