NSW Open to Ban on Sex Selection Abortions

The New South Wales Premier has responded to concerns legalisation of abortion in the state could lead to people having terminations motivated by gender selection. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has opened the door to explicitly banning abortions based on gender if it will help ease community concerns.

Some MPs - including coalition ministers - raised the issue during debate on draft laws to decriminalise abortions in NSW.

The private members’ bill, which passed the lower house last week, will be examined by a parliamentary committee before being considered in the upper house. Ms Berejiklian, who is in Europe on a trade mission, said the state’s chief obstetrician had advised her that sex selection terminations were “not an issue in NSW”.

“But if there is more we need to do to actually allay concerns of the community of course we will,” she told reporters in London on Wednesday.

She encouraged upper house MPs to consider “strengthening” the bill to address the issue, saying she would be “more than comfortable” with it. “Everybody regards that as an abhorrent practice,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“This is a black and white issue. The people of NSW, the parliamentarians of NSW do not support sex selection abortions.”

The first public hearing for the inquiry into the Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill is being held on Wednesday. Religious leaders will be among those giving evidence, including Sydney’s Catholic and Anglican archbishops, as well as Jewish, Maronite and Coptic Orthodox representatives.