Right:Protesters outside Melbourne's Fertility Control Clinic.Further implications
It remains to be seen whether the Abortion Law Reform Bill 2008 will pass through the Victorian Legislative Council and become law. Were it to do so it is possible that it will increase the number of abortions performed in Victoria. This may in part be a result of women from other states, with less liberal abortion laws, coming to Victoria to have an abortion performed. There is currently nothing in the Victorian legislation that would prevent this from happening.Many women are regarding this Bill as a victory as it removes abortion, up to 24 weeks, from the Crimes Act. The choice now rests exclusively in the hands of the woman concerned, without her having to offer any justification to a medical practitioner.
There are, however, those who see this very freedom of access as cause for concern. Those who see abortion as at best the least undesirable of a set of undesirable options argue that women need more supprt than is currently being supplied. Abortion, they argue, is not a solution, it is the acknowledgement of a problem.
That Victoria has an average of 20,000 abortions a year is seen by some as indicating a massive failure of contraception and a disconcerting indicator that many women are having intercourse either unwillingly or with an element of coercion. It may also suggest a lack of access to contraception, a failure to recognise its importance or the effects of alcohol.
This number of abortions is also seen as indicating that for many women there are not sufficient social supports to make pregnancy a desirable option for them. This includes a wide-spread lack of maternity leave and inadequate provision of affordable childcare.