Crisafulli Ducking Question of Reproductive Rights and Abortion

What: Rally for Reproductive Rights
Who: Queensland workers and supporters, including nurses, teachers, police, and workers from a broad range of industries
Details: midday, Friday 27 September 2024, Grand Ramp, King George Square
Contact: Susannah Kits – 0484 585 446

On the eve of International Safe Abortion Day, the peak body representing workers across Queensland will today rally against the real threat to legal, accessible abortion services in Queensland from the outcome of the upcoming state election.

Queensland Unions General Secretary Jacqueline King says its members simply don’t believe the LNP when they say they will not seek to remove abortion rights and reproductive healthcare options for Queensland women if they gain power at the October state election.

The LNP voted against decriminalisation of abortion in Queensland when the Termination of Pregnancy Act was introduced in 2018.

They went to the 2020 state election pledging a review of laws which gave abortion rights to Queenslanders.

In 2022, they refused to rule out future attempts to unpick them in the midst of the Roe v Wade publicity across the world with Crisafulli after voting with his Party against the introduction of the abortion drug MS-2 Step, has now said he would not rule out a private member’s bill if elected in 2024.

Now, in 2024 less than 30 days until the election, the LNP leader is saying repealing access to abortion in Queensland is not a priority for a first term government.

But with pro-life candidates like Amanda Stoker (Oodgeroo), Susanna Damianopoulos (Springwood), Donna Kirkland (Rockhampton), Kerri-Anne Dooley (Redcliffe) alongside of 80 per cent of the existing current LNP Members of Parliament including the current Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates, it is clear that a private Member’s Bill will get their support in 2025.

Queensland Unions have therefore today launched a petition to State Opposition Leader David Crisafulli, the Katter and One Nation Parties demanding a commitment to ensuring Queensland women will continue to have access to their current reproductive rights, including free, funded and equal access to termination of pregnancy services and the abortion drug MS-2 Step, and that the Government will continue to maintain, resource and fund these services across Queensland going forward.

Quote attributable to Jacqueline King, General Secretary, Queensland Unions:

“Despite vital progress fought for and secured by generations of Queenslanders to ensure women’s right to safe, legal abortion services across the state, supporters rallying today are rightfully concerned what the outlook of reproductive rights look like in Queensland going forward.

“Access to reproductive healthcare, including access to abortion services is an important issue for all Queensland women, including working women to ensure they have rights to control their lives and make decisions about their bodies. We are in the midst of a cost of living crisis, and many women need access to funded contraception and abortion services no matter where they live.

“Queensland is not a “Handmaid’s Tale” where women have no choice about their bodies or their lives. It’s 2024, and no government should have the right to tell women what they can and cannot do with their bodies.

“We simply can’t believe a word the LNP says when there are numerous LNP candidates and current Members of Parliament making statements that abortion is the greatest human rights abuse of our time, that we are publicly funding the killing of the unborn, that abortion allows teenagers to take the easy way out, and that the current laws are abhorrent. They even voted against the introduction of MS-2 Step to help regional Queenslanders access an abortion pill this year. We simply can’t trust them after 26 October.

“Our members are telling us they are genuinely fearful that the LNP and other Conservatives in the Parliament who voted to keep abortion in the criminal code may be the new leaders and decision makers when it comes to vitally important issues like healthcare and abortion rights.

“Queensland women do not want to become the next Roe v Wade story of diminished healthcare rights off the back of a conservative government who does not support fundamental healthcare such as abortion. This is a fundamental human rights issue, vital to generations of future Queensland women and girls.

“Today’s rally is a public demonstration of genuine concern and a warning to all Queenslanders that political leaders must not be allowed to play politics with women’s reproductive rights and bodies.”

Rally for Reproductive Rights speakers include –

• Jacqueline King, General Secretary, Queensland Council of Unions
• Jill McKay, CEO, Children by Choice
• Dr Belinda Majer, Strategic Midwifery Policy & Research Officer

ENDS