Tasmanian women having an abortion
Choosing to abort is a path steeped in stigma, shame and judgment, says Michelle Thompson
CHARLIE is 16 years old. She’s smart and her school marks indicate that she is on track to become the first person in her family to go to university. Sue is 41 years old. She has three school-age children. She and her husband have successful careers. They have a comfortable life.
The only obvious commonalities between Charlie and Sue are that they are women and they both live in Tasmania.
The less obvious thing they share is that they are both experiencing an unplanned pregnancy.
Charlie cannot support a child. She is too young and has too much ahead of her. Sue and her husband are faced with the very real possibility that they may be passing on a rare genetic condition should they continue the pregnancy. They decide against taking the risk.
Like half of the women who seek an abortion, Charlie and Sue are using contraception.
On this occasion, it has failed them.
Charlie and Sue are at the stage in their pregnancy that they both require a surgical abortion.
Their decisions to not continue their pregnancies are not made lightly and they have reasoned and reckoned with themselves and their loved ones to come to this decision.
The problem is that both Charlie and Sue must travel to Melbourne if they want to access this service.
The closure of Tasmania’s last accessible surgical abortion facility in Hobart in January this year has placed Tasmanian women like Charlie and Sue under tremendous pressure.
Charlie and Sue did access an abortion through our Marie Stopes Australia clinics in Melbourne. They really should not have needed to do that. They should have been able to access this service locally where they can be near their homes, their families and their support networks.
The path that Charlie and Sue have taken to access their abortions is one that is familiar to women across the world.
It is a path steeped in stigma, shame and judgment from our society, and it is a path that is controlled largely by political and ideological influences.
The truth is that unless you have walked in the shoes of people like Charlie and Sue, you have no idea how challenging it can be.
Abortion attracts strong feelings, particularly when it is viewed through the lens of religion and politics.
It does not have to be this way.
As American obstetrician, gynaecologist and devout Christian Dr Willer Parker observes: “a woman who wants to terminate her pregnancy has to make her decision in the context of a culture that shames her, and increasingly, within the constraints of laws that dramatically inconvenience her. They demean her humanity by presuming to know better than she does what her best interests are.