VWL has joined with 40 organisations to support women’s right to choose in an open letter to the Premier, Daniel Andrews, the Minister for Health, Jill Hennessey, and the Minister for Women, Fiona Richardson.
The letter is in response to a recent announcement by Rachel Carling-Jenkins from the DLP that she will introduce a bill in the Victorian parliament that would change our existing abortion laws in Victoria to make it illegal to get an abortion after 20 weeks, except in medical emergency. Currently, women can get an abortion after 24 weeks on medical grounds with two doctors’ approval.
This is not a common procedure, and generally takes place when women find out that a foetus has serious medical conditions that mean it will not be born alive if it goes to full term or would only survive a few days. It can also occur in other circumstances where there is medical need. Making late term abortions illegal would reverse decisions made in 2008 that were thoroughly debated and would turn back time on women’s rights.
The letter is about a public show of support for our existing abortion laws from a broad cross section of stakeholder and community groups.
Read the letter here