Just days after the Liberal party’s shattering election defeat, former prime minister Tony Abbott appeared at an anti-abortion rally against a Greens bill to address barriers to abortion care in New South Wales.
Speaking to the crowd outside the NSW parliament, Abbott condemned the bill, describing it as an “assault on our fundamental rights and freedoms”.
“Shame on the Minns government for engaging in this extremist conspiracy with the Greens,” Abbott said.
Introduced by Greens spokesperson from Health Dr Amanda Cohn in February this year, the bill includes findings and recommendations from NSW Health’s review of the Abortion Law Reform Act 2019.
The review recommended ensuring abortion services are provided across the state within a reasonable distance of residents’ homes, as well as expanding access by allowing nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives to prescribe medical abortions up to 9 weeks gestation, as per TGA guidelines.
Despite abortion being legal in NSW since 2019, research has shown that a majority of NSW cities and towns are “abortion deserts” and barriers to access still exist. Public hospitals refusing to provide abortion services have been widely reported, including at Queanbeyan and Orange hospitals.
“This bill offers practical reform that brings NSW in line with other states and territories, and makes the system work better for patients and health workers,” Cohn said at the time the bill was introduced.
“Abortion is health care – and while the law changed in 2019, access to care has not,” said Dr Cohn.
“Abortion services are not something public hospitals with the capability to provide them should be able to opt out of.”
In a speech to the pro-life protesters this week, Abbott made a number of claims condemning the Greens bill and suggesting that religion holds a place in the healthcare space.
“I’m not here to talk about abortion, though I deeply regret the fact there are tens of thousands of abortions every year in this country and there shouldn’t be.”
“I’m not here to talk about religion, although I take our faith seriously, and I wish it was held more widely and more enthusiastically.”
“I am here to talk about freedom of conscience because [this] should be at the heart of any decent, civilised society and this legislation which is about to be rammed through the state parliament is a fundamental assault on freedom of conscience,” Abbott argued.
“What this legislation is attempting to do is force every health professional into facilitating abortion. It is extending the current obligation to refer to an obligation to facilitate,” he said.
The Greens bill has a requirement for practitioners who object to abortion to refer a patient to someone who will provide the service.
“This is an attempt to cancel conscientious healthcare professionals. It’s an attempt to drive good Christian people, and good Muslim people and Jewish people out of our health system,” he went on. “It’s designed to drive institutions of principle and faith out of our system.”