Campaigning for women's right to choose abortion since 1972
26th September, 2024
Five years ago today, the Parliament of NSW voted to decriminalise abortion.
Penny Sharpe MLC, who was
instrumental in working with
Parliamentary colleagues to
make this long held cause a
legal reality, posted the image
and statement (see right) on
Instagram today!
Such a simple statement can only be based on the reality of years of campaigning, activism and protesting - privately and publicly, by thousands of people over decades.
Today, as we watch abortion rights, reproductive rights and women's rights wound back across the globe by the determined and often dishonest efforts of zealots and panderers, we say 'thank you' to generations of activists and to those parliamentarians brave enough, and caring enough for the women of NSW, to make this important, and positive vote.
But we can never forget - rights can be taken away. Today we celebrate, but every day we must be vigilant and determined to keep the rights we have won!
After 119 years - abortion in NSW decriminalised
After 119 years, and more than 70 hours of debate in the NSW Parliament, the Reproductive Health Reform Act 2019 (renamed the Abortion Reform Bill by amendment) passed a final vote on Thursday, 26th September, 2019.
The Bill now only requires the formality of being signed off by the NSW Governor in the coming days, and it will become law.
This means that abortion will no longer have the stigma of criminality, and will be regulated in the same way as other medical procedures.
This should open the way to greater certainty for practitioners and better access for women, especially in rural areas.
While the Abortion Law Reform Bill 2019 is not the end of the struggle for reproductive justice in NSW, it is a hugely significant milestone,
made possible by the untiring work of many - some with fortitude and determination across decades, some more recently using their amazing energy and skills. We salute and thank them all!
Public response - including letter writing, petition signing, attending rallies and phoning your local MP and MLC also played a vital part in letting our elected representatives know that they had the support of voters to make this significant and important changes to our archaic abortion laws.