The end of Roe v Wade would likely embolden global anti-abortion activists and politicians – ABC News

The end of Roe v Wade would dramatically impact reproductive rights in the US. It would also likely have symbolic consequences globally, shaping the strategies and tactics of the trans-national anti-abortion movement, writes Prudence Flowers.

Although Australia is sometimes described as the 51st US state, when it comes to abortion our politics and laws are extremely different.

The Australian public is strongly pro-choice and has been for decades.

Abortion in Australia is regulated by state and territory legislation and the overall trend in the 21st century has been to enshrine abortion as a legal right. In 2021, South Australia became the last jurisdiction to decriminalise the procedure.

Broadly, there is a significant shortage of trained surgical abortion providers. Although early medication abortion can be prescribed by GPs, very few are certified to do so. Until COVID, many private regional abortion clinics relied on doctors working on a fly-in-fly-out model.

The tiny Australian right-to-life movement has direct links with the US movement.

In recent state decriminalisation debates, we witnessed the wholesale incorporation of American rhetoric and tactics into the Australian context.

Anti-abortion activists had an out-sized place in these state debates because of their vocal political and religious allies.

Minor parties such as One Nation now have a “pro-life platform”, while several federal Coalition politicians, including Barnaby Joyce, Alex Antic and Matt Canavan have spoken out against abortion.

Amanda Stoker, the assistant minister for women, recently addressed the annual Queensland anti-choice rally.

The end of Roe v Wade will likely embolden our own anti-abortion activists and politicians, who can question public provision of abortion, push for additional legal and medical regulations, and seek to revise laws by emphasising US talking points such as “late-term” and “sex-selective” abortions.

Police officers direct the setup of barricades outside the US Supreme Court

Source: The end of Roe v Wade would likely embolden global anti-abortion activists and politicians – ABC News

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