South Australia’s upper house has narrowly voted down a proposal to amend abortion laws that would have required people wanting to terminate their pregnancy after 28 weeks to deliver their baby alive. Source: ABC News.
The amendments, proposed by Liberal MP Ben Hood, would have required women seeking to terminate a pregnancy from 28 weeks to instead undergo an induced birth, with babies to then be adopted.
Both major parties allowed a conscience vote on the private member’s bill, meaning that MPs did not need to vote along party lines.
After three hours of debate last night, the bill was defeated at the second reading stage just before 10pm — nine members voted in favour of the bill and 10 against.
Starting off the debate on Wednesday evening, Attorney-General Kyam Maher slammed Mr Hood’s bill.
“This bill is not based on evidence, it’s insulting to women and girls and, above all, it’s dangerous in how it plays politics with the health and wellbeing of women,” Mr Maher said.
In his speech, Mr Hood said his bill was “not about taking away a woman’s rights or limiting her autonomy”.
“It is about drawing a clear and humane line once a baby reaches viability at 28 weeks,” he said.
Under legislation passed in 2021, a pregnant person can get a late-term abortion after 22 weeks and six days if it is deemed medically appropriate and approved by two doctors.
According to SA Health, in the first 18 months after the legislation was implemented, “fewer than five” people had their pregnancies terminated after 27 weeks.
Speaking before the vote, Mr Hood said the proposal balanced “the rights of a mother to choose termination, and the right of a child past 27 weeks and six days to live”.
“If this bill does fail, I do not see it likely that it will come before this parliament again before the next election, he said.”
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South Australian upper house narrowly votes down late-term abortion law amendments (By Sophie Holder, ABC News)
