Screenshot via VICE News
Last night, the NSW Parliament passed a bill that will make it illegal for anti-abortion protestors to gather within 150 metres of abortion clinics. The "Safe Access to Reproductive Health Clinics" bill was co-sponsored in the upper house by Nationals and Labor MPs, and introduced into the lower chamber by the Nationals MP Leslie Williams. It will not only establish a safe, protest-free zone, but also make it illegal to staff and patients without permission.Premier Gladys Berejiklian allowed government MPs a conscience vote, and voted in favour of it herself. Speaking to reporters, she explained: “The intent of the bill is to ensure that women have safe access to those medical centres, so obviously on that principle that’s why I’ll be supporting the bill.”She was backed by deputy premier John Barilaro, who shared his own personal experience of seeking an abortion with his partner 27 years ago.Disappointingly, several notable individuals opposed the bill, including Minister for Women Tanya Davies and Families and Prevention of Domestic Violence Minister Pru Goward. Minister Goward said she worried it would impact free speech.Labor’s Jenny Aitchison rebutted the free speech concerns when addressing parliament. “We are saying no to violence, harassment and intimidation against women. We are drawing a line between private decisions and the public opinions,” Aitchison said.
Supporters also pointed out that this was about more than a person’s stance on abortion; it was about the right to access healthcare safely.Former deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce made an attempt to derail the bill by urging a number of his state National colleagues to vote against it. But thankfully it didn’t work.New South Wales now joins Victoria, Tasmania, the ACT, and the Northern Territory in enforcing laws banning harassment of staff and patients outside clinics. Although abortion is still regulated under the state's Crimes Act.
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