Australia and America are signatories of the Cairo Declaration of 1994, the Beijing Platform of 1995 and report on access to abortion through the United Nations human rights review.
Both countries had indigenous methods of women’s health and abortion that were stigmatized and then criminalized by colonizers.
In Australia, every state and territory now has a health law that regulates abortion.
Our abortion laws are not set in stone. Just like in Texas, with a change of government we could see various state and territorial abortion laws further regulated or overturned.
Would the Morrison government sue a state or territory government to protect women’s rights?
The Religious Discrimination Act is imminent and is expected to be presented by Michaelia Cash in the coming months. We still have to figure out how the new draft could override the abortion law.
The latest version of the bill allows all healthcare providers to “conscientiously refuse” any treatment they do not wish to participate in.
The fight against attempts to restrict access to abortion continues in America.Credit:Bloomberg
This means that any provider can refuse treatment that women need, even if it is medically necessary, without being referred to another healthcare provider.
This month marks two years since NSW decriminalized access to abortion. But since then, bills to repeal new health laws have come and gone, and there is still no meaningful investment in abortion.
South Australia is hesitant to reform abortion law. It’s been seven long months since the South Australian Parliament tabled a bill to decriminalize abortion, but the law is still not in place.
South Australia is the only state in Australia where you have to leave your home to have an abortion, which is a disaster in a pandemic.
MPs celebrate with abortion advocates following the passage of the NSW Act.Credit:James Brickwood
The fight is far from over.
In Australia, access to abortion has been removed from the criminal code, which means that patients can no longer be incarcerated.
However, abortion remains in the Criminal Code in a number of ways.
It creates a legislative swamp when we look at nurse-led abortion care. Nursing care is the future of abortion care, but there are 10 years of political and legal reforms ahead of us to make that happen.
Decriminalization is useful, but not everything.
Abortion care in Australia has been Americanized for decades. Abortion is expensive, either as a patient or as a provider.
For the abortion patient it is not only the cost of the procedure, but also the free time, the search for child care and for those in the region and in remote areas also the travel and accommodation costs.
For the abortion provider, it is over-regulation that requires extensive risk management protocols, equipment, and procedural rooms. You can also have open heart surgery.
At Marie Stopes Australia, like Planned Parenthood, we gather for support.
We rely on philanthropic donations to directly fund abortions for people in financial need. Every day, countless women’s health, family, and domestic violence support services get involved to fund abortion assistance.
In Australia, you can pay around $ 400 for a medical abortion and up to $ 8,000 for a surgical abortion.
If you’re lucky, you might be able to go to a local hospital or you might be referred to a local specialist clinic like Marie Stopes.
Pro Choice protesters in Brisbane in 2017.Credit:Glen Hunt
In some cases, some patients can access subsidies – those with health cards, health insurance, and victim assistance.
Every doctor who cares for abortions in Australia has a different funding model.
State and territory health budgets for abortion care are activity-based funding streams, so it is up to each health region to decide whether or how to fund abortion care.
Although Victoria is considered to be one of the most advanced abortion policies and practices, benefits are still limited to those with Medicare cards and those with temporary visas must pay hundreds or sometimes thousands of dollars for abortion care.
The main federal contributions come from the article numbers in the list of services (MBS). There are not enough part numbers for abortion treatments, so clinics have to cross-subsidize from other sources of income. Medical abortion, which has been around in Australia for eight years, has no item number at all.
Abortion protests near Planned Parenthood clinics are commonplace in the United States.Credit:AP
Community policing by abortion providers is one thing here too. Australian clinics are struggling to find a plumber to fix a leak. We experience blockages of advertising opportunities at times. We were charged exorbitant prices for personal protective equipment (PPE).
Secure access zones can deter picket lines from being directly outside clinics, but they do not prevent other forms of harassment. I receive anti-choice hate emails and threats directed at myself and my loved ones.
I left notes under the windshield of my car while at work and was followed home with threats from under my front door after work.
Once a woman threw rosary beads on my head, which hit me like a slap in the face. I walked through the entrance of a United Nations building in New York where I had just given a lecture on abortion and compulsive reproduction.
In Western Australia, pregnant women after 20 weeks of pregnancy must sit before a medical panel, most of whom are men, before they can receive abortion treatment. Those who want to avoid the panel fly over the highway to get access to abortion care.
Some of our patients fly from Perth to Brisbane, which is 3,600 kilometers across at least three jurisdictions. For comparison: Dallas to Denver is only 1,277 kilometers.
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In the pandemic, some people who later wanted abortions had to progress to birth, including stillbirth. The reasons for this are border closings and flight cancellations, so that patients or their doctors cannot travel to the clinic.
Last year we had to remove clinic lists where patients flew the interstate to gain access to care. The doctors were denied travel permits and were stuck in another state. Due to pregnancy restrictions on abortions, these women had no choice but to get back on the plane and continue their pregnancy.
In both Australia and the US we have to fight to hold the line.
Bonney Corbin is the Head of Politics at Marie Stopes Australia.
source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/09/13/the-endless-battle-over-womens-bodies/
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