Access to abortion in Tasmania

SARAH LOVELL, TASMANIAN SHADOW HEALTH MINISTER: We’re here today to support Tasmanian women and we’re calling on the Government to act on the issue of access to pregnancy termination. It’s been a number of months now since the clinic in Hobart closed and the solution offered up by the Premier and the Health Minister is simply not good enough. Extending the travel assistance scheme and expecting women to travel to Melbourne to access this procedure is absolutely negligent. They are letting Tasmanian women down. Women in this position are often in very vulnerable circumstances. Even women who are in good financial circumstances are not often in a position where they can drop everything and fly to Melbourne. We’re calling on the Government to meet the Labor commitment which Julie will speak about and provide this service in Tasmania for Tasmanian women in our public health system. This is clearly the ideology of the Health Minister getting in the way. This is not a question of not having the right equipment or the right specialist available in Tasmania, because we know that clinicians have been providing this service to Tasmanian women. Clinicians are stepping up where the Government has not, the Health Minister needs to put his personal beliefs aside and make this decision in the best interests of Tasmanian women and if he can’t do that the Premier needs to make that decision for him.

JOURNALIST: So you’re saying the conservative side of the party is sort of ruling the roost here?

 

LOVELL: There’s absolutely no reason why this service can’t be provided to Tasmanian women in the public health system. This is clearly the ideology of the Health Minister getting in the way of him being able to provide good, fair, public services for Tasmanian women.

JOURNALIST:Is it discrimination to these women who may not be able to afford to travel?

 

LOVELL: Yes absolutely - there are many Tasmanian women who are not in a position to travel to Melbourne to access this procedure. There are a number of women who don’t have $2500 lying around that they can use to access this procedure in the private clinic. This is absolutely discrimination against women in Tasmania who are not able to access this service – a safe, legal, medical procedure like any other medical procedure that is accessible in the public health system.

 

JOURNALIST: So you’re saying the Liberal party is a bit divided on this issue, is the Labor party completely united?

 

LOVELL: The Labor party is 100% united on this issue. We took an election commitment to State Election from Federal Labor. The State Labor party is 100% behind that commitment and we are committed to increasing pressure on the Premier and the Health Minister until this situation is resolved.

 

JOURNALIST: What do you think a turnout at an event like this today will do – what message will it send?

 

LOVELL: The Premier and the Health Minister should be paying very close attention to what’s happening on Parliament House lawns today. There is huge support in the community for Tasmanian women. People recognise that this is unjust and that this is a denial of a right to Tasmanian women and they are willing to throw their support behind that. So the Premier and the Health Minister should be paying very close attention and I think the turnout today will speak for itself.

 

JOURNALIST: If it’s such a big issue do you think it had any impact on voters because you know the Government was re-elected?

 

LOVELL: There were a number of issues at play in the election. There was a massive campaign which we saw - an enormous amount of money thrown at an issue which distracted from almost all other issues on the table at the Tasmanian election. So the Premier and the Health Minister told us this issue would be fixed. Tasmanians have obviously put their faith in the Premier and the Health Minister and once again they have been badly let down.

 

JULIE COLLINS, SHADOW MINISTER FOR AGEING AND MENTAL HEALTH: I think what the figures show is that Tasmania women have been badly let down by the Premier and the Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt. Greg Hunt and Will Hodgman both, during the State Election campaign, said this issue had been fixed. As Sarah has rightly pointed out, the numbers are showing more women are having to travel to Melbourne, so clearly it is not fixed. It is not ok, in 2018, that Tasmanian women cannot access a legal, medical procedure in a public hospital in Tasmania. That is not ok in 2018. I think Greg Hunt, as the Federal Minister, should intervene and tell the State Government here in Tasmania that it is not ok that a legal procedure cannot occur in a public hospital in Tasmania. During the last State Election, Federal and State Labor made a commitment that Federal Labor would fund a reproductive health hub where women could go and have this procedure safely and State Labor said it should be funded through the state health system - the services in this health hub. We call on the Federal Liberals and State Liberals to make the same commitment so Tasmanian women are not disadvantaged. It is not ok that Tasmanian women have to travel for this legal, medical procedure in 2018.

 

JOURNALIST: What are the figures showing? How many women are travelling interstate to have to get this?

 

COLLINS: The Marie Stopes figures said that it has gone from 1-2 women up to 10 women travelling to go for these procedures in Melbourne. These are women who often have jobs, who have partners, who have other children. It is affecting not just the women but the whole community – this is not ok.

 

JOURNALIST: What sort of message does is send to women in that position? Is there some stigma towards what they’re going through?

 

COLLINS: As Sarah has pointed out, most of these women are already in a vulnerable position. They are already making what is a tough decision, they should not be made to get on a plane and undertake this procedure that is legal here in Tasmania, and should be able to be provided in the public health system in Tasmania.