A bill that would have expanded abortion in publicly funded hospitals in Victoria, Australia, has failed. The bill was introduced by Reason Party leader and crossbench MP Fiona Patten, and would have required all hospitals receiving public funds – even those with religious affiliations – to participate in abortion and assisted suicide. The Guardian reports that the Victorian Labor government and the opposition voted down the bill on Wednesday, August 17.
Patten said the outcome was a loss for women:
Right now, women and gender diverse people in Australia need to know that the government has their back in regards to reproductive rights and in regards to assisted dying. And the opposition and the government did not give them that assurance today. It was a win for religious ideology.
However, opposition health spokesperson Georgie Crozier disagreed. “To say that women’s rights are being denied is not right,” Crozier stated. “I don’t think Miss Patten has done the homework on this bill. She’s just rushed it in, she’s used some international hoo-ha in the US to bring that ideological error and whip up hysteria on an issue that just doesn’t exist in this state. It is ridiculous and it’s wrong.”
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Crozier also pointed out that there was no precedent for forcing hospitals to provide particular services, while parliamentary secretary for health Nina Taylor highlighted that “Victoria is Australia’s most progressive state when it comes to women’s rights and access to reproductive choices.”
According to The Guardian, Patten’s bill would have mandated that “all Victorian hospitals that receive public funding … would be legally required to provide advice and services for abortion and contraceptive treatment. But the bill would not change the right of individual doctors to refuse to perform abortions on religious grounds.” Doctors with conscientious objections are currently required to refer pregnant women seeking abortions or related information to another doctor who does not have similar objections.
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