Chants of "Free, safe, legal!" rang out in Macquarie Street on August 6 at 9am as hundreds of people gathered in front of NSW Parliament House to urge MPs to vote to decriminalise abortion today.
NSW MPs will start debating the Reproductive Health Reform Bill 2019 bill, moved by independent MP Alex Greenwich and co-sponsored by 15 others. If passed, it would remove abortion from the Crimes Act 1900 and treat the procedure under medical guidelines.
A small, but noisy, group of people who oppose women's right to choose tried unsuccessfully to drown out the broadly co-sponsored action.
The speakers were: Yvonne Welden, chairperson of the Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council; Wendy McCarthy AO, from the NSW Pro-Choice Alliance; Margaret Mayman, a Uniting Church minister; Penny Sharpe, an ALP MLC; Jenny Leong, the MP for Newtown and Greens' spokesperson for women’s rights; Natalie Lang, secretary of the Australian Services Union NSW branch; and NSW Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi.