All posts tagged: choice

Having an Abortion in Launceston is “Like Going to the Dentist”

Published by

When it comes to facing an unwanted pregnancy in Australia, choice is apparently what women want. But is that what they get? When a vulnerable young woman books an appointment with her GP or walks into a youth support service – is she presented with the full gamut of options out there? Or is she given the option that the professional thinks is ‘most appropriate’ to her situation?  Recently I had the opportunity to ask these questions of a woman who had an abortion in Launceston when she was 19. While the laws have since changed, making abortion more accessible, her answers give an interesting snapshot of how our society handles abortion and the mental health repercussions. This Q & A makes up a part of Sandra’s story (not her real name). When did you have your abortion and how old were you? 2007; I was 19. How far along were you when you had the abortion? Nearly 11 weeks. Where did you go first when you realised you had an unwanted pregnancy? The Corner*. …

You Have TWO DAYS to be Heard on Tassie’s Barbaric Abortion Bill

Published by

Submissions close on Friday to the proposed changes to Tasmania’s abortion legislation. The so called Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill, 2013, has stirred lively discussion lately – and so it should. People are talking about when life begins. About our right to conscientious objection on such topics. About methods of termination. About the level of support available to expectant mothers. About removing red tape around adoption. The bill is frightening in that it not only seeks to allow unfettered access to abortion up to 24 weeks, and with two doctors’ sign-off up to 40 weeks (full term), but it also seeks to muzzle objection and limit a woman’s access to alternatives – choice! Read more about that here and here. If you haven’t already done so, please write a submission, however brief, and send it to public.health@dhhs.tas.gov.au or GPO Box 125 Hobart, TAS, 7001. For more info on the bill and some points you might like to include in your submission, check out this post. There are other ways you can put action to your conviction too. …

Choose Life.

Published by

What a privilege it will be for women to have unfettered access to abortion up to 24 weeks gestation (and beyond if they get a couple of doctors on board) when the ludicrously named Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill 2013 is passed. Actually, I don’t believe it will be passed. And, tell me, what is reproductively healthy about terminating a pregnancy? There is just so much wrong with this draft piece of legislation. Was it scrawled on the back of a used envelope and handed to someone’s secretary? Did they stamp a two-week submission period on it in an attempt to curtail response (thankfully, this has now been extended by another two weeks)? Why the hurry to make Tasmania the abortion capital of Australia? I want to speak to the women out there – women like me who are of child-bearing age, who are in a rewarding career perhaps or who are enjoying study, travel, relationships. It’s a great age to be alive – I’m approaching 30. It’s a time when you’re comfy in …

Scourge on Society: Forced Adoptions One Generation, Abortion the Next

Published by

THE issue of forced adoptions has been the focus of a senate committee for the past 18 months and on Wednesday, the Community Affairs committee tabled its final report (Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices). I’ve been reading some of the 418 submissions, mostly from women forced to adopt their child after falling pregnant out of wedlock. These vignettes of a cruel practice perpetuated through the 1950s-1970s are utterly heart wrenching. One woman, pregnant at 18, wrote; “I will feel forever sad and sorry that I didn’t have the gumption or strength of character to be able to stand up for myself and my daughter. This is how you felt. You were so bad, so troublesome, so undeserving. What would a frightened, downtrodden and shamed young girl have to offer her child, where would she start? I could not fight my family or the society’s values at that time.” Another recalls; “I’d lie in bed every night with my arms wrapped around my baby inside of me knowing that I would never hold him after birth. I’d feel his …