CAIRNS 鈥 Three Queensland doctors published a letter in the international medical journal The Lancet on March 6, highlighting the difficulties women in the state face accessing medical and surgical abortions.
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In early September, most abortions performed in Queensland health facilities came to a halt. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists had passed on a legal opinion to their members that said doctors were still at risk of prosecution while abortion remained in the criminal code.
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Last week, Queensland鈥檚 Bligh Labor government demonstrated it could remove the conscience vote on laws regarding abortion. It also instructed ALP parliamentarians to vote in favour of a law to allow medical terminations on the same limited grounds as now apply to surgical terminations.
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Doctors at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital will no longer perform medical terminations due to legal uncertainty, after criminal charges were laid against a 19-year-old woman and her partner in Cairns for allegedly procuring an abortion, said the August 21 Australian.
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Access to safe medical and surgical abortion is a right that women have fought for and are still to fully achieve. They鈥檝e kept fighting because the right to decide if and when to bear children is a cornerstone for women鈥檚 equality in society.
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Premier Anna Bligh was put on the spot on ABC television鈥檚 Q & A on July 30 when asked about a young Cairns couple facing charges for procuring an abortion.
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Last week was one of much activity in the regional city of Cairns, as the push for abortion law reform in the state shows no sign of slowing down.
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On March 21, Anna Bligh鈥檚 election victory night, she answered a question from a journalist about how it felt to be the first female premier to be elected in Australia. She suggested the snide remarks made when she was a young woman, about Queensland being a 鈥渂ackward鈥 state, could now be laid to rest.
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The inaugural Tropical Pride Festival was held at Cairns聮 Tanks Art Centre on September 16. The night before the festival, for the first time a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) contingent 聴 consisting of 50 people 聴 marched in the festival聮s Cairns Parade of Lights, watched by some 10,000 people.