Health bodies call for end to ‘regressive’ QLD abortion debate

Debate over abortion access ahead of the Queensland election this weekend has triggered a cross-organisational response, with several peak health bodies labelling any roll backs in protections ‘not only regressive but dangerous’.
 
On Monday, the RACGP released a joint statement alongside the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG), True Relationships and Reproductive Health Queensland, Queensland Sexual Assault Network, Women’s Health Services Alliance Queensland, Family Planning Alliance Australia, and Children by Choice.
 
The group is calling for the state’s leaders to ‘keep abortion care safe, legal, and compassionate for all’.
 
’We are deeply concerned by recent discussions suggesting the potential recriminalisation of abortion,’ the joint statement says.
 
‘This would be a harmful step backward, risking the health and safety of pregnant people and undoing years of progress.
 
‘Access to abortion is essential healthcare. Restricting it leads to dangerous consequences, with vulnerable communities facing the greatest harm.’
 
Abortion was decriminalised six years ago in Queensland, following the passing of the Termination of Pregnancy Act.
 
The issue re-entering the Queensland political landscape was triggered when Katter’s Australian Party Leader Robbie Katter announced his party’s aim to put an abortion repeal bill back into parliament after the 26 October election.
 
Neither the state’s Labor nor Liberal National Party have led their campaigns with the issue, with both effectively ruling out any changes.
 
But there are concerns the repeal could lead to another conscious vote on the legislation.
 
RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins told newsGP she is ‘devastated and disappointed to see this making headlines’.
 
‘We’ve got fringe male politicians making calls on women, their bodies and their healthcare choices,’ she said.
 
‘This is a much-needed service for all women and to lose that would have devastating health consequences.’
 
Dr Higgins said debate around this topic has distracted the news cycle from other important healthcare issues in the state and was thrown in without consultation.
 
‘Bringing this up has induced fear for women and has been a distractor for the major issues for the election around healthcare policy,’ she said.
 
‘It would have been helpful if they had reached out to the health bodies and consulted before making statements that impact on the lives of Queensland women.’
 
Children by Choice Chief Executive Jill McKay says the organisation has already seen a spike in women contacting the service with concerns.
 
‘Since abortion has been thrust into the political and media spotlight in recent weeks, women and pregnant people have been contacting Children by Choice, seeking clarity about their current rights and what the future may hold,’ she said.
 
‘Many are feeling confused and deeply concerned that their rights could be stripped away – now or in the future.
 
‘This uncertainty is already having a direct impact on their safety and wellbeing.’
 
RANZCOG President Dr Gillian Gibson emphasised that politics is not the right place for this decision.
 
‘We must trust our trained, specialised healthcare providers to make these decisions, not politicians,’ she said.
 
The joint statement calls on the state’s political leaders to defend the existing legislation and ‘reject harmful and regressive rhetoric that seeks to undo the progress we have made’.
 
Dr Higgins says regardless of the election result, this statement will remain unchanged.
 
‘This shows that major health bodies support women to have reproductive health care,’ she said.
 
‘We are all on the same page, and we will hold both sides of politics to account to ensure that women can still access reproductive health care and abortion care in Queensland,’ she said.
 
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