Today, the NSW Parliament came one step closer to finally decriminalising abortion in their state, then took two steps back.
A bill introduced by Greens MP Dr Mehreen Faruqi to bring NSW in line with Victoria, ACT, Tasmania and the Northern Territory by removing abortion from the Crimes Act and providing safe access zones for women trying to access reproductive health clinics was voted down. Easily.
Fourteen members of the NSW Legislative Council voted for and 25 voted against the bill, which had been carefully crafted by Faruqi over two years under the advice of doctors and lawyers.
Not one Liberal or National MP supported the bill, but only one explained why.
Your body, their choice. I'm sorry to announce that the NSW Legislative Council has voted 14-25 against taking…
Posted by Mehreen Faruqi on Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Here are their names:
Lou Amato (Liberal), Niall Blair (Nationals), Robert Borsak (Shooters, Fishers and Farmers), Robert Brown (Shooters, Fishers and Farmers), David Clarke (Liberal), Rick Colless (Nationals), Catherine Cusack (Liberal), Greg Donnelly (Labor), Scott Farlow (Liberal Party), Ben Franklin (Nationals), Duncan Gay (Nationals) , Trevor Khan (Nationals), Scot MacDonald (Liberal), Natasha Maclaren-Jones (Liberal), Shayne Mallard (Liberal), Taylor Martin (Liberal), Sarah Mitchell (Nats), Paul Green (Christian Democratic Party), Don Harwin (Liberal), , Shaoquett Moselmane (Labor), Reverend Fred Nile (Christian Democratic Party), Greg Pearce (Liberal), Peter Phelps (Liberal), Bronnie Taylor (Nats) and Ernest Wong (Labor).
Cheers for that.
“It is really disappointing to see that every member of the Liberal and National party voted against decriminalisation of abortion and only one of them stood up to tell the community why,” Faruqi, who is also Spokesperson for the Status of Women, said in a media conference following the decision.
“This bill was not about promoting or not promoting abortion. It was about choice.
“Young people overwhelmingly supported this reform because they can see the hypocrisy. No amount of scare campaigns can hold back the tide. This was about putting abortion access on the political agenda. We succeeded in that and we will continue the campaign.”
