By Lara Pullin
The April 18 NSW Supreme Court ruling by Justice Newman that abortion is illegal in that state has caused a furore in the ACT mainly because it is unclear how the ACT will be affected.
In the first instance, it is seen as a giant step backwards for women that could partly override the 1972 Levine ruling and restrict the access of NSW and ACT women to abortion services. This would have an immediate impact on the estimated 1500-3000 ACT women who currently access services in Sydney because there is no clinic in the ACT.
Following a vocal and broadly supported public campaign, in 1992 the Legislative Assembly repealed the Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) Act of 1978, which restricted access and required women to front up to an ethics committee in the public hospital to establish their case for abortion.
However, the Labor government did not allocate funds for a clinic, or for additional staff to carry out the procedure in public health facilities, so ACT women still need to obtain services interstate.
The ACT Family Planning Association is establishing a clinic in the city health centre due to open in late 1994, but has faced many delays in the refurbishment of premises and hiring and training of staff. It is the first to admit it will not be able to cope with the demand for services in the ACT.
Sandra McKenzie, executive director of the ACT FPA, said of the NSW judgment that it reaffirmed the common law by references to a woman's physical and mental state. She said, "Practitioners are still going to be providing services to women in need of abortion, knowing that they are not breaking the law".
A different interpretation of the ruling has come from the former ACT minister for health, Wayne Berry, who introduced the Repeal of the TOP Act in 1992. Berry plans to introduce a private member's bill which will clarify that seeking or performing an abortion in the ACT is not a crime.
A spokesperson for Berry said, "What we are going to do is ensure that a woman, and the medical practitioner are not liable for prosecution for a criminal act. The NSW decision is a new piece of case law which effectively weakens the Levine decision, and currently what affects NSW affects us. We cannot tolerate the situation whereby a woman or her medical care providers may be liable for prosecution, and ultimately for a 10-year jail sentence, for exercising her health care choices."
One hitch in Berry's plan is that the Labor caucus is unlikely to support women's right to choose. It is understood that the caucus supported the 1992 bill on the condition that abortion was "left alone" as an issue. ALP members Terry Connolly (ACT's new minister for health), Elinor Grassby, Annette Ellis and David Lamont are all expected to use the conscience vote to vote against ALP policy.
Berry is counting on four fellow ALPers, two of the three independents and some Liberal conscience votes in favour. Both Liberal and Labor allow their members a conscience vote on this issue.