The law against women's rights
Abortion: A woman's right to choose
By Claudine Holt
New Course Publications
18 pp. $1.00
Reviewed by Sean Malloy
Abortion is one of the safest and easiest medical procedures. A majority of Australians support a women's right to abortion. Yet it is increasingly difficult for women to get an abortion in this country.
Claudine Holt looks at how women's access to abortion is being denied and the case for repealing anti-abortion laws. She outlines experiences from the United States which pose the need for a repeal campaign in Australia.
Holt explains the contradictions between laws on abortion, the court rulings that make abortions possible and the pro-choice consciousness of the majority of Australians.
Arguing that, if erosion of access to abortion continues then the legal precedents that have allowed abortions to occur will become meaningless, she writes, "... in Australia there is certainly no room for complacency since most availability of access to abortion rests on a question of legal precedent". The key question is the laws themselves.
Pointing to the attacks in the US against clinics, doctors and women seeking abortions, Holt discusses the failure of the US women's movement to take up the fight with the right wing. She concludes that Australian feminists should take warning from the US situation.
"It's time for feminists and supporters of women's access to abortion to go on the offensive instead of always being on the back foot responding to attacks.
"We've got the numbers in terms of public opinion and we're not under attack from parliamentary bills or prosecutions. What better time to go on a repeal campaign?"