Having passed in the House of Assembly last sitting week, the Bill to create Safe Access Zones around premises that provide abortion services is now before the Legislative Council where Greens MP Tammy Franks will have carriage of it.
Tonight, Ms Franks will give her second reading speech on the Bill, and will bring it to a vote in the first sitting week of November.
This coincides with WA announcing they will introduce their Safe Access Zones legislation today as well, which means that if South Australia doesn’t pass this Bill we are at risk of becoming the only jurisdiction in the country without Safe Access Zones.
South Australia is one of only two Australian jurisdictions that doesn’t have Safe Access Zones around premises where abortion services are provided, meaning that women seeking health care and workers providing it are regularly harassed, intimidated, and threatened.
The Legislative Council has previously passed Safe Access Zones in 2019, with 14 Ayes and 7 Noes.
Quotes attributable to Tammy Franks MLC:
“No woman seeking health care should be made to run a gauntlet of protest and preaching. This Bill will make sure they are no longer forced to, and it needs to be passed urgently."
“Our dedicated health workers and the patients for whom they provide care deserve to be safe. It is beyond time that Parliament stepped up to provide protection for patients and clinicians alike."
“I hope that Members in the Upper House will pass this legislation without delay”