Anti-abortion activist Joanna Howe has been banned from South Australia’s upper house for allegedly using “threatening” tactics towards politicians.
The president of the upper house, Terry Stephens revealed in parliament that he had received several complaints from MLCs alleging Dr Howe had insulted, intimidated and threatened politicians on the night of a vote about late-term abortion law, where a ‘Trumpian’ bill nearly wound back abortion care.
If passed, the legislation would have meant that any South Australian seeking an abortion after 27 weeks and six days, would instead be induced, give birth and then either keep or adopt out the child. The proposed law had been called ‘forced birth’ legislation by some, and was struck down by just one vote (10 to nine).
This week, Liberal politician Jin Lee revealed that on the night of the vote for this legislation, she’d felt unsafe and put in a compromised position after an encounter with an “external visitor”, who made Lee feel “very vulnerable”.
Lee told parliament she had been “traumatised by the incident [and] suffered from a lack of sleep and [continued] to experience anxiety” but did not name Howe or anyone else as the person responsible.
Stephens identified the external visitor as Dr Howe, a legal professor at the University of Adelaide and a key figure behind the “forced birth” legislation. Dr Howe helped draft the proposed changes to abortion laws.
Stephens said multiple complaints came through from members of parliament about Dr Howe’s behaviour in the galleries and areas adjacent to the Legislative Council chamber, which he called “unacceptable”.
“Members have claimed to witness insults and threatening and intimidating tactics employed by Dr Howe towards some members,” Stephens said.
“It is entirely unacceptable for visitors to roam the corridors and other areas adjacent to the chamber unaccompanied.”
“It is even more unacceptable that any member should feel intimidated or threatened by visitors while carrying out their free performance as a member of the council.”
“[Members] must feel safe in carrying out their parliamentary duties and have confidence that they are free to do so without interference, intimidation or undue influence from visitors,” he said. “In considering these accounts, I have decided that Dr Howe behaved in a manner that did not afford members that right and risked compromising the effective functioning of the chamber.”
“As such, I advise the council that Dr Howe will not be permitted to attend the public or president’s galleries of this chamber, nor be permitted to access the areas adjacent to the chamber, such as the corridors, as well as other shared areas in the Legislative Council.”
Responding to her ban from the upper house, Dr Howe called it a “total abuse of power” which she would “strongly contest going forward”. She also refuted “every allegation that has been made”.
Previously, Dr Howe said she was not “100 per cent certain” she was the external visitor Lee had been referring to, but Dr Howe had admitted to lobbying Lee on the night of the vote.
Speaking to ABC Adelaide on Thursday, Dr Howe said that “no formal complaint or allegation has actually been put to me”.
“I have been denied both procedural and substantive fairness in this case,” she said.
“I have never been identified as the person [Ms Lee] spoke about and I strongly refute that framing that was given.”
In another incident roughly a week earlier, Dr Howe sparked outrage by labelling prominent women– such as SA Greens leader Tammy Franks– as members of a “baby-killers club” on social media. Franks responded, saying the posts were intended to incite hatred.
Dr Howe has long been outspoken against abortion rights. In collaboration with right-wing Liberal senator Alex Antic, she supported a “born alive” bill, which falsely claims that babies are regularly born alive after abortions. And she’s challenged the government’s stillborn baby payment for women who have abortions.