A matter of choice
THE Queensland Parliament is set to debate and vote on bills related to the decriminalisation of abortion.
Recently, Essential, an independent survey company which is a member of the Association of Marketing and Social Research Organisations, released updated data regarding community attitudes to legislative change.
They reported that 82 per cent of the electorate, spread fairly evenly across all political parties and age groups, were in favour of decriminalising abortion.
This demonstrated a significant increase when compared to previous independent surveys.
However, the most substantial change related to voters’ intentions, with 60 per cent indicating that if a candidate did not support women’s reproductive rights, they would be less likely to vote for them at an election.
The law, as it exists, was formulated more than 100 years ago and women have campaigned frequently for abortion to be removed from the criminal code and accepted as a health decision to be made between a woman and her health provider.
I sincerely hope that the LNP does allow their members to have a conscience vote, similar to both the ALP and the Greens.
And when MPs do vote on the bills, I hope their ‘conscience’ recognises that they have a responsibility to the majority of their constituents. Dr Carole Ford OAM, Redlynch