PERTH — Doctors Victor Chan and Hoh Peng Lee appeared in the Central Law Court on February 17, charged with unlawfully performing an abortion. The doctors were supported by a rally of 200 women chanting "Not the Church, not the state, women must decide their fate!". The case was suspended until April 14. Green Left Weekly's SARAH STEPHEN spoke to participants at the rally.
"No-one else has the right to decide if we can have an abortion. It's our choice", said Vaarunika Dharmapala, a student at the University of WA.
"This attack is really scary because abortion access is something a lot of women take for granted."
Asked why she thought these doctors were charged, Dharmapala said: "We are living in a very anti-woman climate with the Howard government's attacks on things like child-care. This attack on abortion is part of a push to put women 'back in their place'. It makes me very angry."
According to Ana Kailis from the Democratic Socialists, "We're seeing a winding back of women's position in society, a reassertion of women's 'natural role' in the home. It's being allowed to happen largely because of the absence of a large, organised women's movement."
A February 19 opinion poll of 402 people in urban and rural WA found that 82% supported the legalisation of abortion and only 11% opposed it.
Nevertheless, says Margot Boetcher, president of the Association for the Legal Right to Abortion (ALRA), "What's being demonstrated to us today is that every generation has to fight the battle again and again. I know a lot of feminists who thought they'd won all these things. They organised hundreds of street marches week after week in the '70s, and here it is back on the agenda again.
Kailis points out, "Public opinion isn't static. If there is an ongoing campaign by the government and those who oppose women's access to abortion, a lot of public support might be undermined if the issue isn't taken up by a well-organised women's movement."
ALP state MP Cheryl Davenport plans to introduce a private member's bill which amends one section of the criminal code to give doctors greater powers to interpret a woman's situation.
"I'm very much against leaving this to politicians", Dharmapala said, "because we will end up with a compromise. It's a woman's right to have an abortion when she feels it is necessary, not when a doctor deems that she may suffer emotional or physical harm."
Boetcher says Davenport's bill "was drafted last year, before the doctors were charged. Cheryl was going for a minimal change to get it through the Labor caucus. Now, with this public support and women's anger raised, she is getting a lot of pressure to change her amendment.
"Richard Court said the government will introduce its own changes, but they won't come close to repeal. Women want the laws repealed, so we're going to keep pushing that demand.
"The government is saying, 'Stop worrying, the enforcement of the law hasn't changed'. That's clearly not true, and it's important to maintain our rage and keep the pressure on the politicians."
On February 20, the WA Trades and Labour Council called a meeting of representatives from a wide range of women's health and legal organisations and formed the Coalition for Legal Abortion, aiming to "achieve the legalisation of abortion in WA by repealing sections 199, 200, 201 and 259 of the criminal code".
ALRA is planning to launch its "Repeal the Law — Campaign for Choice" campaign in early March. For more information, phone Sarah Stephen on 9227 7367.