Wednesday, 19 June 2024

 Rachel PAYNE (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:58): (968) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Health and relates to abortion access. Under Victoria’s Abortion Law Reform Act 2008 a registered health practitioner is allowed to voice a conscientious objection to a pregnancy termination. In practice this means that people like doctors, nurses and pharmacists can refuse to offer you any assistance, but they are then legally required to refer you to another provider. However, recent reporting by the ABC details an insidious trend of noncompliance and an utter absence of any reporting or enforcement.

This is not a new issue. A University of Melbourne led study over five years ago showed that conscientious objectors in Victoria were breaking the law by not referring patients to another professional. They also found that this led to people having abortions much later than necessary or being forced to have an unwanted pregnancy. The decision to have an abortion is a personal one, not a political one. The continued existence of conscientious objector provisions in Victoria’s abortion laws goes against everything that these laws stand for – a person’s right to control their own body. Quite frankly, if you refuse to provide an abortion to someone, you are refusing to provide them an essential medical care. If you cannot do your job, maybe you should consider a different career.

The Premier stood in this place when the legislation for abortion access was debated in Victoria. She said that people should be able to:

… make a choice unencumbered by a stigma conferred by outdated and prejudicial legislation.

Well, I am here to tell you that this legislation is outdated, this legislation is prejudicial and this legislation needs to change. So the action I seek is that the Premier make it illegal for a health practitioner to raise a conscientious objection to a pregnancy termination or, in the alternative, require that every conscientious objector report the referral and their objection to the Department of Health or face penalties.