TAS: Abortion law in limbo in Tasmania

AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-2001
TAS: Abortion law in limbo in Tasmania

By Don Woolford

HOBART, Dec 7 AAP - A police investigation into abortions in Tasmania has thrown a
77-year-old law into doubt and forced the state government to pay for women to go to Melbourne
to have their pregnancies terminated.

Virtually all Tasmanian doctors have stopped performing the procedure, amid warnings
that backyard abortion clinics could spring up and signs that the issue is splitting the
community.

The government has referred the issue to the state Law Reform Institute for recommendations
on how the law could be clarified.

A conscience vote will be allowed on any legislation that finally comes before parliament,
although this is likely to be months away.

The problem came to a head several weeks ago when a medical student complained to police
that abortions were being carried out at Royal Hobart Hospital contrary to the 1924 Criminal
Code, which only permits the procedure if the mother's life is at risk.

A government spokesman said today the police investigation was continuing.

Until the complaint, about 1,000 abortions a year were carried out in Tasmania, even
though the Law Society believes that unless they were to save the mother's life, they
were crimes.

Legal sources said the authorities turned a blind eye because the issue had never been
tested in the courts.

Since the complaint, Tasmanian doctors have stopped terminating pregnancies for fear
of prosecution.

One obstetrician and gynaecologist, however, said he was stopping the procedures to
try to force a change in the law.

Government sources said women in the north of the state who needed abortions were being
sent to Melbourne under an existing Patient Transport Assistance Scheme used when operations
were not available in Tasmania.

However, the scheme is not available to everyone and doesn't cover all costs.

A Melbourne doctor was being flown to Hobart for one day a week to carry out the procedures
there, with the government promising to pay the legal costs of any hospital support staff
who may be caught up in a prosecution.

While doctors and family planning spokespeople warned that the difficulties and costs
could force some women to turn to dangerous backyard clinics, the two biggest churches
split on the issue.

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Hobart Adrian Doyle said the law should not be weakened,
while Anglican Bishop John Harrower supported the review and favoured a conscience vote.

A poll of MPs in today's Hobart Mercury indicated MPs were equally split. About a third
supported major liberalisation of the law, a third opposed it and a third said they'd
wait to see any actual legislation before deciding.

Some observers believe the issue is so divisive that Premier Jim Bacon, who must go
to the polls before the end of next year, may call an early election before the issue
comes to a head in parliament.

AAP dw/ns/de

KEYWORD: ABORTION

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