On 20 September 2023, the Abortion Legislation Reform Bill 2023 passed Western Australia’s upper house 25 votes to 6.

It was a heartbreaking debate.

The Labor Government removed all barriers or safeguards around abortion, treating it the same as any other medical procedure.

During the debate, I worked with a parliamentary colleague from my opposing political party to move key bi-partisan amendments to:

• Prohibit abortion for the purposes of sex selection

• Prohibit abortion for Down syndrome

• Obligate doctors to provide information about voluntary counselling

• Require an annual report to Parliament of de-identifiable data associated with abortions 

• Make clear that babies born alive after an abortion are entitled to the same standard of medical care as any other West Aussie baby

Tragically however, none of these amendments passed.

The best way to sum up the differences in ideology and values between those who voted for the amendments and those who voted against, is this exchange between me and the Leader of the Government in the upper house who had used her visit to her oral surgeon as an illustration:

Hon NICK GOIRAN: I encourage members to also reflect on the fact that this is very different from any other medical procedure that might take place, because a tooth is not an unborn child. When a family has an ultrasound and sees the unborn child moving its legs and arms, they see that it is a human being, not a tooth. We absolutely see this as a very different type of medical procedure from anything else.

We had extensive debates last week about the decisions some families might make regarding the sex selection of the baby and a diagnosis of Down syndrome. Last week with regard to late-term abortions, the Leader of the House herself indicated that they are always awful decisions—something that I agree with her on. Why is it that we call these things awful decisions and are at pains to say that it is very difficult for everybody involved?

It is because it is not a tooth: it is an unborn child. In fact, at the present time, the legislation in Western Australia refers to the unborn child—something that we are now trying to desensitise ourselves to by referring to them as a fetus.

I certainly have no great expectation that there is going to be overwhelming sudden support for Hon Kate Doust’s amendment, but I ask that honourable members understand that from our perspective, this is not any old medical procedure taking place: this is a decision about whether the life of an unborn child is going to be taken or not.

Hon SUE ELLERY: I will just respond by saying that I think that to a certain extent, the honourable member has correctly characterised the views of people in the chamber who have moved the amendments. That is right; the difference between us is that we see this as a form of medical care that should be treated in the same way that other medical care is.

I entirely understand the argument from the member’s point of view that he does not. There should be no illusion that we are under any misapprehension about what the member’s views are on this. I understand them completely. However, the proposition is that this decision ought to be made by the consumer with clinical assistance from her medical practitioner. In that sense, the arrangements that we put in place around that should be no different from any other form of medical care.

Sadly, the passing of this law also meant that while babies born alive after an abortion continue to have their birth registered, their death is longer reported to the State Coroner. Western Australia is the only jurisdiction in our country where such deaths are not reported to the Coroner.

During the debate Parliament was told that at least one WA baby lived for 2 hours and 10 minutes.  

So where to from here? What hope is there?

There are two things that the government can never stop you from doing:

1. They cannot stop you from caring about unborn and newborn babies.

2. They cannot stop you from helping a woman with an unexpected pregnancy.

So, I encourage you to support organisations that do offer love, care and wrap-around support for those women who face the fear and uncertainty of an unplanned pregnancy. Organisations such as:

Pregnancy Pathways
Pregnancy Problem House
Pregnancy Assistance
Pregnancy Matters

Together we can work towards making sure every Western Australian woman is surrounded by so much support for her unexpected pregnancy that the idea of an abortion becomes unthinkable for her.

Watch my third reading speech on the Abortion Legislation Reform Bill 2023.