Women’s reproductive rights
Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) (14:23): My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, it is a frightening time right now as we are seeing a resurgence of politicians around the world trying to control women’s bodies and trying to ban or restrict abortion and reproductive rights. We are seeing it in the US, but also here in Australia we are seeing right-wing politicians come out of the woodwork in Queensland, in South Australia and federally with the Nationals trying to roll back our reproductive rights. Luckily, here in Victoria we do have the right to safe and legal abortion, but it is frightening to think that could be rolled back if there is a change of government. We could further protect this right, so will the government act and support enshrining the right to abortion in Victoria’s constitution?
Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Health Infrastructure, Minister for Ambulance Services) (14:24): I want to thank the member for Melbourne for her important question. The member for Melbourne well knows that she and I share the same strong commitment to women’s right to access safe medical and surgical abortions in this state. I also want to assure all Victorian women that, under an Allan Labor government, access to abortion care is assured. It was of course a Labor government that decriminalised abortion back in 2008, and indeed to add to that, it was back in 2016 that former Minister for Health Jill Hennessy implemented our first ever women’s and sexual health reproductive strategy. Of course we also implemented safe access zones. Here in Victoria we run the nation-leading 1800 My Options service, which provides both confidential telephone and online information and support for women that are seeking information and access to either surgical or medical termination of pregnancy. Our record here is strong, and I would say to the member for Melbourne that my focus as Minister for Health, I might say very ably joined by the Parliamentary Secretary for Women’s Health, has been on increasing access to abortion care right across our state. As a regional Victorian I have been particularly focused on the need to increase access to abortion care for girls and women in rural and regional Victoria. And while I respect the sentiment expressed by the member for Melbourne, my focus has been on action and on making a real difference to the lives of so many girls and women right across the state.
Emma Kealy: Then why are there deserts, given you’ve been in for 10 years?
Mary-Anne THOMAS: If the member for Lowan had been paying any attention at all, she would know that it is this government that has expanded sexual and reproductive health hubs to Horsham, to Ararat and indeed to Melton – areas where we know that access to abortion care has been a challenge. We have also done a great deal of work to improve access through our public hospital network.
Emma Kealy interjected.
The SPEAKER: The member for Lowan is warned.
Mary-Anne THOMAS: I firmly believe, again, abortion care is health care and it should be readily available across our network of public health services. In conclusion, we have talked a lot about abortion care; I hope the supplementary question asks me about contraception, because I want to say something about that as well.
Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) (14:28): I thank the minister for her answer, but as we both know, the biggest barrier right now to reproductive rights in Victoria is actually access, because there are still a lot of access barriers in Victoria. Women have the right to abortion, but accessing it actually relies on your postcode. Last month Women’s Health Victoria reported that more than two-thirds of local government areas in Victoria have no surgical abortion providers at all. We know that many publicly funded hospitals in fact do not even provide surgical abortion at all, for various reasons. Will the government act to ensure and require publicly funded hospitals to provide the essential medical service which is surgical abortion?
Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Health Infrastructure, Minister for Ambulance Services) (14:28): I can assure the member for Melbourne that the Allan Labor government is already acting, with 20 sexual and reproductive health hubs. Only in recent weeks I announced that endorsed midwives are now able to prescribe the medication necessary for a medical termination. This is going to make a huge difference in rural and regional Victoria. But of course there is more to do to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place, and that is why our sexual and reproductive health hubs and our healthcare scholarships are making sure we have got the workforce that is trained and able to provide long-acting reproductive contraception, which we know is very effective and in fact can meet the needs of many more women and girls, particularly those that live in rural and regional Victoria. I will end where I started, which is that only an Allan Labor government can ensure that abortion care is protected here in Victoria.