Many recent attempts by the religious right to revive debates about abortion access have centred on late-term abortions — a loaded label used to describe terminations that take place after a certain period of gestation. Federal health minister Tony Abbott and his far-right religious mates want to ban abortions later than 20 weeks, or at least remove Medicare funding for the procedure.
The vast majority of terminations take place within the first 12 weeks. But nominating an arbitrary cut-off point is really just the first step towards further, or even entirely, restricting abortion access. Women's right to control our own bodies and our own lives has no expiry date.
Margaret Kirkby from Sydney's Bessie Smyth Foundation and the Women's Abortion Action Campaign has outlined five categories of women most likely to require later abortions (other than those due to medical advice for conditions of the pregnant woman or foetus).
The first is women who are in their menopausal years — their periods may be out of whack, they may feel as if something is wrong with their body, but it takes some time before they realise that they are pregnant. They may have teenage children completing their final schooling years or other family pressures and the discovery of pregnancy can be a major shock and cause of distress.
The second is very young women, aged between 13-16, whose menstrual cycle may not yet have established itself into a regular monthly cycle. They may have difficulties discussing their problem with their parents or doctor, so wait until finally they have an ultrasound and confirm the pregnancy.
The third group of women are those with mental health problems or who are on methadone (methadone wreaks havoc with the menstrual cycle). These women also often take some time to realise they are pregnant and often face difficulties in arranging to visit a clinic. Late discovery of pregnancy can be very disturbing for these women for a range of reasons. Among them is the potential effect on foetal development of methadone and drugs taken for mental health problems. Sometimes these women are already dealing with the trauma of having had their previous children taken from them and don't want to go through such an experience again.
The fourth group are women usually in their late 20s or early 30s who go off a particular method of contraception that they have been using for a considerable period of time, when they start to think about having children. Advised that fertility may take 18 months to two years to return, and given the time it can take for the menstrual cycle to return to normal (menstruation periods may not happen at all for sometime after long-term use of Depo Provera, for example), a woman in this category may become pregnant far earlier than she and her partner had anticipated and been prepared for. It can take sometime for pregnancy symptoms to be recognised, and when the pregnancy is discovered, some women may be happy to continue it, but others may not be ready for parenthood and so opt for a termination.
The fifth group of women are those in rural and regional areas, often with multiple barriers such as lack of car or other transport, poverty, a history of drug use and lack of access to a GP. It can take far longer for women in such situations to make it to a clinic for an ultrasound.
If Abbott was remotely concerned about the difficulties faced by women who seek later abortions, then he could start by dramatically improving public health facilities in rural and regional areas.
In all five groups, adding to the stress of discovering not only an unwanted pregnancy, but one that is 16 or even 20 weeks advanced, is that very few services carry out later abortions and they cost thousands of dollars in most states. Placing further restrictions on this procedure will only make these women suffer more.
Removing Medicare coverage for abortions after 20 weeks will simply mean that only women who can afford the procedure will have the right to decide what happens to their bodies.
What is really needed is the complete removal of all anti-abortion laws and the establishment of free, legal abortion services in all states so as to ensure provision of safe pregnancy terminations for women who choose abortion regardless of the how long they have been pregnant.
Kerryn Williams
From Green Left Weekly, February 16, 2005.
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