The first Action by the
new open-to-all women’s collective Melbourne Feminist Action is THIS Saturday,
24 November, 10 am – a mass prochoice rally at Australia’s first clinic to offer
safe, legal abortions, the East Melbourne Fertility Clinic. The action is
timely and essential – coinciding with the news reports of the death of Savita
Halappanavar in Ireland last month after being denied an abortion, and other
prochoice initiatives including in Chile, where abortion is criminalized.
Information below comes thanks to spokespeople for the MFA rally Jacinda
Woodhead and Stephanie Convery.
The rally will DEMONSTRATE that the
ongoing harassment, on a daily basis, of women patients accessing a legal
health service will not be tolerated; also to point out that even in Australia,
abortion is legal in only Victoria, WA and ACT. It remains criminalized in some
areas of Australia. The clinic, on Wellington Street, East Melbourne, has been
targeted by anti-abortionists since its creation 40 years ago but there has
been an escalation by the anti-choice lobby in recent months. Women patients
and partners are harassed on a daily basis – even filmed and photographed. All
this in the media release prepared for the event below. Please share the
invitation to join this event: OUR CLINIC. OUR BODIES. OUR CHOICE. The rally
will be followed by a march to City Square. (Join / share at MFA Facebook.)
MASS RALLY THIS SATURDAY EAST MELBOURNE
FERTILITY CONTROL CLINIC
‘OUR CLINIC, OUR BODIES, OUR CHOICE’
MEDIA RELEASE
19 10 12
A mass abortion rights rally and march
has been called for this Saturday, 24 November (10 am), to show support for the
East Melbourne Fertility Control Clinic. The rally at the clinic will be
followed by a march to City Square.
Established 40 years ago as the first
clinic of its kind in Australia to provide safe and affordable abortion, as
well as other reproductive health services, the clinic has been picketed almost
daily across its history by anti-abortionists. In 2001, security guard Steve Rogers
was murdered at the clinic by an anti-abortion protester.
The anti-abortionists harass and bully
patients and staff through their picketing, posters (showing anatomically
incorrect dismembered fetuses), pamphlets, and physically and verbally intimidating
patients, as well as filming them. The anti-choice lobby has in recent months
escalated its focus on the clinic. The clinic sees thousands of women every
year and anti-abortionists continue to target patients on a daily basis.
The pro-choice rally organisers are
hoping for a strong turn-out at the rally. Spokesperson for the rally, Jacinda
Woodhead, said the action had been called “to show very clearly that we think
the harassment of women trying to access a health clinic is unacceptable – and
we oppose it. Abortion in Victoria is both legal and safe, and we trust women
to make informed decisions about their own bodies and lives.” The rally had the
consent of the clinic, she said.
The East Melbourne Fertility Control
Clinic was founded by abortion law reformers Dr Bertram Wainer, Professor Jo
Wainer and Dr Peter Bayliss in 1972.
Woodhead said a recent study by
Alexandra Humphries, a research student at the University of Melbourne, of 158
women attending the clinic found that 77.8 per cent felt stigmatised by the
picketers. In her assessment of the study, head psychologist at the clinic, Dr
Susie Allanson, described the harassment as “unwanted, demeaning and harmful
attention” toward patients attempting to access a health service.
The Victorian Abortion Law Reform Act of
2008 saw abortion available when requested by a qualified medical practitioner
until 24 weeks.
“While abortion in Victoria is legal and
safe”, says Woodhead, “this is also a national health issue. Even now, more than 40 years after the
Clinic’s founding, abortion is only legal in Victoria, WA and ACT – and has
various restrictions placed on it by these states and territories.
“Abortion sits under the Crimes Act in
most states, and women can still be prosecuted and publicly shamed for procuring
abortion, as we saw in Cairns in 2010. In many parts of Australia, such as
Queensland and the Northern Territory, it remains difficult for women to access
abortion and other reproductive health services. The reality is we still have
places in this country where women can’t access abortion.
“As we saw with the heartbreaking case
of Savita Halappanavar in Ireland last month, who died after being denied an
abortion, these are the consequences of having laws that restrict women’s
reproductive rights.”
The rally is being organised by a new
open-to-all Melbourne-based women’s rights organisation, Melbourne Feminist
Action, whose first meeting in October decided on the rally. MFA plans a series
of actions around a range of women’s rights issues. The slogan for this rally
is Our Clinic, Our Bodies, Our Choice.
Melbourne Feminist Action
On Facebook: facebook.com/MelbFemAction
On Twitter: @MelbFemAction
By Email: melbfeministaction@gmail.com
For more information or interviews,
these spokespeople can be contacted directly: Jacinda Woodhead (0433 630
643) or Stephanie Convery (0418
100 737).
