WAAC prepares Submissions on abortion and reproductive rights and justice issues when Parliamentary Committees and other bodies call for them.

 

WAAC also writes directly to elected representatives and other appropriate people on issues relating to abortion, women's rights and reproductive rights in the lead up to parliamentary debates and votes.
 

Click on the links below to read some of WAAC's Submissions:

 

Australia

 

Australia wide, abortion procedures are covered by Medicare, through which rebates are provided.

 

• 2013: Health Insurance Amendment (Medicare Funding for Certain Types of Abortion) Bill 2013

 

In 2013, DLP Senator John Madigan proposed an amendment to the Health Insurance Act which would see women subjected to intrusive questioning regarding their reasons for abortion, supposedly to prevent the "problem" of gender selective abortion. WAAC joined organisations such as The National Association of Specialist Gynaecologists and Obstetricians, the Australian Medical Association, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Women's Legal Services NSW, Women's Electoral Lobby, Women's Health Victoria, Reproductive Choice Australia (of which WAAC was a founding member) and many other organisations, women's services and individuals in opposing the proposed Bill.

 

The Senate Committee's web link for this Enquiry can be read at:

 

Health Insurance Amendment (Medicare Funding for Certain Types of Abortion) Bill 2013

 

WAAC's Submission to the Committee is available here:

 

Health Insurance Amendment Bill 2013.Submission from WAAC

 

The final Report by the Senate Committee is available here:

 

Health Insurance Amendment Bill 2013.Senate Committee Report

 

 

• 2006: Therapeutic Goods Amendment (Repeal of Ministerial Responsibility for Approval of RU486) Bill 2005

 

Read WAAC's Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee by clicking on the PDF image below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New South Wales

 

The legislative framework in NSW continues to keep abortion in the Crimes Act, so that a woman's decision to choose abortion is circumscribed by laws which mean a woman cannot decide her course of action based on her own principles, views and circumstances, but is responsible for her decision to a general principle of law.

 

Since 1972, WAAC has been actively working towards the repeal of all abortion laws, demanding that there should be no legal or state interference in what is actually a private medical matter for individual women.

 

WAAC has prepared a number of Submissions regarding anti-choice Bills brought before the NSW Parliament.

 

• Crimes Amendment (Grievous Bodily Harm) Bill 2010

 

On 18th March, 2010, NSW MLC Fred Nile introduced a Bill to amend the NSW Crimes Act

 

Nile,F Crimes Amendment Bill 2010

 

You can also view the proposed Bill HERE on the Parliament of NSW website.

 

Concerned about the implication and intent of the Bill, Women's Abortion Action Campaign prepared the following Submission for the Criminal Law Review Division:

 

WAAC Submission to NSW Criminal Law Review Division
 

 

Tasmania

 

• Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill 2013

 

WAAC made a Submission to Tasmania's Minister for Health in relation to this proposed Bill.The Bill was passed in the House of Assembly in April 2013, and sent to the upper house (Legislative Council) for debate.Currently (July 2013), abortion remains the only medical procedure regulated underTasmania's Criminal Code.

 

The Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill marked the culmination of much hard work by Tasmanian organisations to have abortion "decriminalised".

 

However, following the public consultation phase, the original Bill was considerably "softened", including removing the requirement for doctors unwilling to perform abortions to refer the patient to a known provider.

 

The Bill would make it legal for a doctor, with the pregnant woman's consent, to perform an abortion up to and including 16 weeks' gestation. After 16 weeks, the existing legal requirement (permission of two doctors, one a specialist) would remain in force.

 

If passed, the legislation would mean abortion would be regulated by the Health Department and, according to proponents, having an abortion would be simplified.

 

Read WAAC's submission here:

 

WAAC Submission on Draft Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill