Abortion is a human right
Two years ago, the US Supreme Court overturned the 50 year old Roe v. Wade decision, which had previously guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion. The regulation of abortion was returned to the states.
Within just a year, 25 million women of childbearing age were living in one of the 24 states that had either banned or restricted abortion. That’s 1 in 3.
We know that abortion rights matter to voters. Publicly available data from TargetSmart shows that young women registered to vote at a significantly higher rate since abortion rights came under threat. In Kansas, women registered to vote at more than twice the rate men did in the weeks between the overturning of Roe v. Wade and overwhelmingly rejected an amendment asserting that the state constitution does not protect abortion rights.
And, according to weekly polls by YouGov/The Economist between May to November 2022, abortion was as important as inflation to Democrats.
Between 2023 and 2024, Amnesty International documented the devastating impact of the restrictions on abortion. These restrictions have forced pregnant people to delay care, threatening their health and life and, ultimately, have forced people to give birth against their will.
Ahead of the November election, Jasmeet Sidhu, senior researcher with Amnesty International USA says, “Everybody everywhere must be free to exercise their bodily autonomy and make their own decisions about their reproductive health.”
As is the case in Australia, the only way to overturn this human rights failure and to ensure all people in the U.S. can access their human right to abortion without the interference of politicians is with full federal protections of the right to abortion.
Policy is not felt equally
We also know that the impact of bans and restrictions is not felt equally. Barriers exists for many communities including people of colour, Indigenous people, immigrants, transgender people and those living in low socioeconomic and rural areas.
Amnesty’s August 2024 report, Abortion in the USA: The Human Rights Crisis in the Aftermath of Dobbs, shares stories from individuals across the country who have been harmed by restrictive laws and practices in their states, putting a human face on the multitude of the ways in which people are harmed when denied the human right to abortion.
This couldn’t happen in Australia, could it?
Whilst there are no bans on abortion in Australia, and abortion is decriminalised across the country, it isn’t a constitutional right (nor protected in federal law). That means, it could be criminalised if anti-abortion state governments are elected.
At the time of the Roe v Wade decision, Bonney Corbin, Head of Policy at Marie Stopes said “My heart goes out to them, but it also demonstrates the need for vigilance here in Australia. We need to work really hard to protect the hard-won gains.”
“My heart goes out to them, but it also demonstrates the need for vigilance here in Australia. We need to work really hard to protect the hard-won gains.”
This has proved especially true as politicians in South Australia and Queensland have proposed restricting abortion right in recent weeks.
In South Australia, new legislation was proposed in September 2024 that would effectively force those seeking an abortion after 28 weeks of pregnancy to give birth. These abortions make up, less than 1% of all terminations performed after that stage in 2023* – all due to foetal abnormalities or risks to the mother. The bill was only narrowly defeated.
Abortion also emerged as an election issue in Queensland when incoming Premier David Crisafulli consistently deflected questions on about his personal position on abortion rights, and whether he would allow members of the Liberal National Party a conscience vote** on a Bill that crossbench MP Robbie Katter has confirmed he will reintroduce to wind back some elements of Queensland’s 2018 laws that decriminalised abortion.
It was only last year that the Premier told a live audience “I don’t believe in late-term abortions” and promised MPs a conscience vote on the issue. In 2018 Crisafulli and his deputy Jarrod Bleijie voted against decriminalising abortion.
Disproportionate access exists here too
It is not only in the States where socio economic barriers are preventing many individuals from access to safe abortion services. In fact, access to abortion services in Australia is far from guaranteed.
Health Sociologist Louise Keogh told SBS News that while abortion has been decriminalised across Australia: “It’s very difficult to get cheap or free abortion in most states.”
“In fact, we don’t have national comprehensive human rights protections in Australia, which is something a lot of people don’t realise.”
The only way to guarantee this right
Australia does not have a federal law protecting people’s rights to access healthcare, including reproductive health care.
That’s why now more than ever, establishing an Australian Human Rights Act is crucial. We’re the only liberal democracy in the world without one.
That means, if a pregnant person is denied rights such as healthcare, access to a safe abortion, there’s no framework to challenge the system.
President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, says abortion is “an essential healthcare service” and “any attempt to further legislate abortion is an attempt to deny women access to health care.”
“A decision to terminate a pregnancy should be a discussion between women and their doctors”
It is essential that laws relating to abortion respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of pregnant persons and don’t force them to seek out unsafe abortions. A Federal Human Rights Act would force the government to consider human rights when making decisions on funding and delivering reproductive healthcare services. It would stand as a framework for a future where all our rights, including our right to access affordable reproductive healthcare, are protected.
As most nations are strengthening reproductive rights, we will not allow Australia to join the U.S. among the ranks of a small group of only three other countries that have tightened abortion laws since 1994.
*In 2023, according to SA Health data
**Usually, these members are expected to vote according to the position chosen by their political party. But sometimes parties don’t decide on how they will vote and leave it up to individual members on matters of social policy where members may have strong personal positions. This is called a conscience vote
