Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I'm proud and pleased to be here today speaking about women's rights to control their own bodies, speaking about women's rights to decide for themselves whether an abortion is right for them in their own unique circumstances and speaking about the rights of all women in Australia to be able to access free, legal and safe abortions, and for abortions to be accessible in public hospitals and for abortions to be accessible for every woman who needs one. And it's my privilege to be in this place to support my colleagues, Senator Waters and Senator Faruqi, who spoke so eloquently before me, and to feel supported by them in the face of some of the most hurtful, awful, divisive, revolting rhetoric from the other side.

I speak as someone who has had an abortion, a late-term abortion. Hearing myself being accused of being a murderer by both Senator Anning and Senator Stoker hits me pretty hard. You could imagine that it's not something that is easy to take, but I know that my late-term abortion was done in a position where I was very privileged. It was supported by my medical practitioners and supported by my family. I had the privilege of being in a capital city at the best hospital. I had the privilege of having my family supporting me, and I am an empowered woman, which means that I'm used to having my rights and speaking up for them. I know that many other women don't have those rights. In this debate today, they are the women whom we need to listen to. Hearing the contributions from the senators in this place, they are not listening to women. They have their very, very strong religious views that they are imposing on women.

If you listen to women and you think about the lives and the experiences of women throughout the ages, you would know that women don't have abortions lightly. They don't do them without thinking. They think about the consequences. They think about whether it is right for them and then they make that decision. In times gone by and in states where abortion is still is not decriminalised, regardless of what the law says the women who have decided that having an abortion is what they need to do will proceed to have one. Abortions will continue to occur and that is what we need to realise in any debate about abortion. Abortions will continue to occur and it's our role, as legislators, to make sure that they occur and that women have the opportunity to have the discussion and the support of the people around them to decide whether it is right for them to choose an abortion. To the people who have strong religious convictions and say that, because of those religious convictions, they think abortion is not right, it's their choice not to have an abortion, but they should not impose that choice upon other people. Even worse, they should not impose their religious views on other people and then demonise women for having abortions.

There have been contributions going to the issues of late-term abortions and gender selection, saying that the Queensland laws will make that occur. Anybody who wants to look at the facts about late-term abortions will see that a woman having a late-term abortion has gone through a huge thought process, discussion and consideration of whether it's the right thing to do. Most of the late-term abortions are because there are issues with the development of the fetus, and that was certainly the case for mine, and yet Senator Anning and Senator Stoker are willing to stand here in this place and call me a murderer. Yes, this is a difficult issue; yes, this is a personal issue, but we need to listen to women. We need to know that abortion is something that all women should have access to if it is right for them. It is important for us in this place and in all of our state parliaments to do the legal reform that's currently going on in Queensland and that Senator Faruqi tried to make happen in New South Wales, so that all women can have access to free, legal, safe and accessible abortions.