Abortion bill blocked ahead of vote, over legal concerns

The legality of abortions is up for debate in Queensland parliament tomorrow.

Two bills were introduced by independent MP Rob Pyne, looking to reform the criminal code to remove abortion as on offence. 

Yesterday the opposition leader Tim Nicholls, issued a statement saying the Liberal National Party will not support the second bill reforming abortion law in the state.

“This issue is very emotional for all of us and we discussed it at length,” the statement said.

“What I can say is that after this discussion every single member of the LNP party room indicated that, in good conscience, they cannot support these Bills on Wednesday.”

Concerns have been raised that if one one of the bills is passed it could leave women and their doctors in legal limbo.

“The first Bill left the entire area of abortion unregulated and this was clearly untenable,” the statement said.

“The second Bill attempts to correct the failures of the first Bill but falls well short. It creates further risk and uncertainty as shown in the Parliamentary Committee report – this doesn’t help anyone.”

“In fact, the second Bill makes it legal for a woman to secure her own abortion without medical supervision – including by the use of illicitly obtained drugs.

This announcement is a clear indicator the bills will fail on the only medical procedure to feature in Queensland’s criminal code.

Currently a woman who “unlawfully” has an abortion in Queensland can be liable for up to seven years imprisonment, according to the code; anyone “unlawfully” administering the abortion can be liable for up to 14 years.

However, the code was updated in 2009 to make abortion legal if a pregnancy will risk a woman’s mental or physical health.

New South Wales is also set to debate the legality of abortion later this year.

The laws in the state are similar to Queensland, where they aren’t criminal if they are to protect a woman’s mental or physical health.

In Australian Capital Territory abortion is legal, but must be performed in a hospital.

In Victoria abortions are legal up to 24 weeks or pregnancy, and in WA it is 20 weeks.

In Tasmania they are legal up to 16 weeks, and after that two doctors have to agree on the procedure.

In Northern Territory they are legal up to 14 weeks, if there are risks to the mother or the child is physically or mentally handicapped.

In South Australia abortions are legal, but must be performed in a hospital and two doctors must agree the pregnancy would be harmful to the woman’s health or risks the child could be seriously physically or mentally handicapped.

Do you think the law should be made the same Australia wide?