A pro-choice rally will be held in Brisbane on November 21 as part of the ongoing campaign against the prosecution of a Cairns couple under Queensland’s anti-abortion laws.
The rally will demand the dropping of the abortion charges and the repeal of the anti-abortion laws.
Pro-Choice Action Collective activist, Kathy Newnam said “The laws under which the Cairns couple have been charged should not exist. Abortion should not be on the criminal code. Abortion has been decriminalised in the ACT (2002) and Victoria (2008) and it’s high time that Queensland did the same.
“It is outrageous that a Cairns woman faces up to seven years in jail for having an abortion when one in three women in this country will have an abortion at some point in their lives. Abortion is common practice in private clinics and should be made free, safe and accessible for all women.
“Abortion is a woman’s right to choose. The decades-long struggle for abortion rights has won widespread recognition of this right. The anti-abortion forces want to turn back the clock and we have a so-called feminist premier who is unwilling to stand up to them.
“Our rally is part of a campaign that is determined to make it politically untenable for the Bligh Government to maintain their position of inaction.
“The changes to the criminal code that the Parliament made in early September were nothing but a distraction – they did not remove the anti-abortion sections under which the Cairns couple have been charged.
“Our rally will protest against the lies and misinformation that the government has perpetuated about the Cairns case. Bligh and various government ministers continue to claim that the case is related to alleged “smuggling” of the abortion drug. This is a lie. The charges have been brought under the anti-abortion laws, not drug related laws.
“The Bligh Government is doing what it can to distract attention from the reality of the Cairns case. The fact is that the prosecution of the Cairns couple is one of the most serious attacks on abortion rights for decades.
“The rally on November 21 is an important opportunity for all supporters of a woman’s right to choose to stand up and speak out to defend abortion rights”.
For more information: www.prochoiceactionqld.org